DONATIVE INSCRIPTIONS

Brahmadeyas (land gifted to Brahmanas) had a political dimension. These settlements were created by royal order, and the rights of the Brahmana donees were declared and confirmed by royal decree. The feudalism hypothesis interprets brahmadeyas as a cause as well as a symptom of political fragmentation. This interpretation is difficult to accept for various reasons. Why should kings have voluntarily eroded their own power? Furthermore, was this really a period of political fragmentation? The political narrative in the preceding sections in fact clearly indicates that the early medieval period was marked by an unprecedented level of the proliferation of state polities at the regional, sub-regional, and trans-regional levels, within a broader economic context of agrarian expansion. Far from being symptoms of the disintegration of polities or royal disempowerment, land grants to Brahmanas were one of several integrative and legitimizing policies adopted by kings.

From the point of view of fledgling kingdoms struggling to establish their power and legitimacy, the patronage of Brahmanas, a social group that had traditionally enjoyed a privileged socio-religious status, did not amount to an inordinate loss of revenue or control. In fact, kings who ‘granted’ a piece of land may not have been in a position to realize revenue from that land in the first place. From the point of view of the large, established kingdoms, the making of a few land grants did not significantly deplete state resources. The maximum number of grants and the most lavish grants— both to Brahmanas and to religious establishments—were generally made by the most powerful dynasties and kings. In fact, the increase in royal land grants indicates higher levels of control over productive resources by kings compared to earlier periods. Strategies of control, alliances, and collaboration with prestigious social groups were an important facet of the politics of the time. The increase in the wealth and power of a section of Brahmanas and institutions such as temples did not take place at the expense of royal power (see Singh, 2006: 203–4).

Leaving aside the Delhi Sultans, inscriptions of other early medieval dynasties bear testimony to the Brahmanization of royal courts all over the subcontinent. Brahmanas emerged as ideologues and legitimizers of political power by crafting royal genealogies and performing prestigious sacrifices and rituals. As pointed out earlier, many royal genealogies linked lineages with the epic–Puranic tradition and assigned kings a respectable varna status. Origin myths often indirectly reflected actual relationships between social groups and institutions. For instance, myths enshrined in later literary sources of Kerala assigned an important place to Brahmanas and temples in their explanation of the origins of kingship, reflecting the close relationship that existed between kings, Brahmanas, and temples. The direct political role of Brahmanas in the Chera period is evident in the fact that Brahmanas of the leading Brahmana settlements formed part of the Nalu Tali (the king’s council) at Mahodayapura.

While royal grants to Brahmanas remained a feature throughout the early medieval period, from about the 10th century, there was a shift towards donations to temples. There were also some ‘secular grants’. For instance, Karnataka gives evidence of kings making grants of land in return for military service. In Orissa too, the imperial Gangas made grants to nayakas or military chiefs. However, at the subcontinental level, the number of instances of ‘service’ or military grants were very few compared to those made to Brahmanas and religious establishments.

BRAHMANA BENEFICIARIES

Although Brahmana landowners existed in earlier centuries, there was a significant acceleration, intensification, and expansion of Brahmana control over land in the early medieval period. In the previous chapter, reference was made to a few instances of land grants made to Brahmanas by private individuals, some grants made to Brahmanas at their own request, and others made by kings at the request of certain people. The complexities revealed by these earlier inscriptions are less apparent in inscriptions of later times. However, there are still some clues which suggest that certain other people had a hand in grants ostensibly made by kings. An example is the 13th century Calcutta Sahitya Parishat copper plate inscription of Vishvarupasena, which records the king’s gift to a Brahmana named Halayudha. Five of the eleven plots of land ‘gifted’ to this Brah-mana are described as having been previously purchased by Halayudha himself, and the inscription actually seems to reflect a royal ratification of these purchases. Among the inscriptions of Orissa, some Bhauma-Kara and Ganga grants refer to feudatories or members of their families as the vijnapti (the person at whose request the grant was made). Such evidence corroborates D. C. Sircar’s (1969: 7) suggestion that land grant charters often camouflaged the identity of people involved in making the grant and sometimes even the very nature of the transaction.

Common sense might suggest that Brahmanas who were given grants of land were associated with the royal court. Some early medieval inscriptions of Bengal do, in fact, describe the donees as shantivarikas or shantyagarikas—men in charge of the performance of religious rites for the king. Other inscriptions from the same region describe land as having been gifted as dakshina for the performance of certain rites. In Orissa, some Brahmana donees were connected with the royal court as priests (purohitas, punyavachakas), astrologers (jyotishis), and administrators. Similar instances can be cited from other parts of the country. However, the vast majority of inscriptions do not reveal a court connection for the Brahmana donees.

Brahmana recipients of royal grants are identified in inscriptions by their ancestry, gotra, pravara, charana, shakha, and native place. Gotra refers to the exogamous clan system of the Brahmanas. The gotras are divided into ganas, each of which has its own pravara. The pravara consists of a series of names (1, 2, 3, or 5) of supposed ancestral rishis. Charana refers to a school of Vedic learning, and shakha to a particular recension of a Veda. Inscriptions tend to use charana and shakha interchangeably. They highlight the Vedic learning of Brahmana donees, for instance by mentioning their titles such as acharya, upadhyaya, and pandita.

The references to native place indicate that some Brahmana donees were recent migrants into the area, and that there was a significant degree of spatial mobility among a section of the Brahmanas. Several phases of Brahmana migrations can be identified in early Indian history. The details of the earliest migrations, which may have begun as early as in c. 800 BCE, are shrouded in a mythological haze. The initial eastward movement is reflected in the gradual, though grudging, acknowledgement of the eastern regions in early Brahmanical literature, and the eastward extension of the term Aryavarta. The southward movement is reflected in legends associated with Agastya and Parusharama, which were mentioned in (< />)Chapter 8. Another phase of southward migration can be associated with the ‘Sangam age’, i.e., the early historical period of South India.

The Brahmana migrations of later times are better documented. The 16th century Keralolpatti records a tradition of 32 villages as the original Brahmana settlements in Kerala, which seems to

reflect developments that occurred in the early medieval period. The late medieval Kulaji texts of Bengal trace the ancestry of the Kulin Brahmanas of Bengal to five Brahmanas from Kanyakubja, who were requisitioned by king Adisura to coach the Bengal Brahmanas in the correct performance of Vedic rites. Although the characters and details of this story cannot be treated as historical, they do suggest a few important things that are corroborated by other sources—namely, that the prestige of the Brahmana in early medieval India was still grounded in his Vedic learning, and that learned Brahmanas were migrating from Madhya-desha (the middle Ganga valley) into eastern lands.

Apart from such literary references, from the 5th century onwards, land grant inscriptions document the influx of Brahmana immigrants from the heartland of Madhya-desha into the areas of Maharashtra, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa. Some migrants came from renowned centres of Brahmanical learning such as Takari, Shravasti, Kolancha, and Hastipada. The phenomenon of migration intensified in the 8th century. The fanning out of Brahmanas into different parts of the subcontinent explains the need to fix the relative ranking of groups belonging to different regions. A broad division that had emerged by the 10th century was that of the Pancha-Gaudas (the northern group) and the Pancha-Dravidas (groups living south of the Vindhyas). The former included the Sarasvata, Gauda, Kanyakubja, Maithila, and Utkala Brahmanas. The Pancha-Dravida group included the Gurjjaras, Maharashtriyas, Karnatakas, Trailingas, and Dravidas.

But why were Brahmanas migrating? Factors such as political instability and pressure on land have been cited as possible reasons (Datta, 1989: 224), but these are not entirely convincing. The migrations can be connected with the search for a better livelihood arising out of specific historical contexts. The earlier phases of eastward and southward migrations may have been related to the decline of sacrifice-oriented religious practice in north India, especially in the early historical period. Members of the Brahmana community who had earned their livelihood by officiating at sacrifices, may have been impelled to leave their homes in search of alternative occupations that offered a more secure and lucrative income. This might also explain why the post-6th century BCE literature displays such diversity in the occupations followed by Brahmanas.

The migrations of the early medieval period coincided with the proliferation of kingdoms in various parts of the subcontinent, and may have had to do with new incentives rather than pressures. The emerging political elites required legitimation and an administrative infrastructure, and this opened up new opportunities and avenues of employment for learned, literate Brahmanas. By this time, the religious practices of ordinary people had become increasingly oriented towards theistic devotion and had little to do with the Vedas or shrauta rituals. Yet, it is interesting to note that during the centuries that saw the virtual eclipse of Vedic religious practice at the popular level, Brahmanas were consistently advertised in inscriptions as Vedic scholars, or at least in terms of their Vedic affiliations, and kings were advertising their patronage of such Brahmanas. The big gulf that existed between the Sanskritic–Vedic tradition on the one hand and the lives of ordinary people on the other may have been the very factor that made this tradition a useful legitimizing basis for elite groups who were keen to highlight their loftiness and aloofness from the masses. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that two major phases of Brahmana migration coincided with major phases of state formation.

Certain inscriptions mention Brahmanas with unusual non-Sanskritic names, and some of them may represent Brahmanized tribal priests. For instance, some Eastern Cha-lukya inscriptions record grants made to Boya Brahmanas—these were originally priests of the Boya tribe, who got

Brahmanized at some point of time. Inscriptions sometimes also mention Brahmanas with unheard-of gotras, or whose gotras and pravaras do not match. These may represent groups which had invented a Brahmana identity for themselves in order to improve their social and economic prospects.

THE NATURE OF BRAHMADEYA SETTLEMENTS

While discussing the nature of brahmadeya settlements, it is difficult to detach the body of ‘facts’ from the theoretical frameworks in which they are embedded and, as mentioned earlier, the theoretical frameworks contradict one another in crucial respects. Further, although some general features and trends hold good for most of the subcontinent, brahmadeyas of different regions, subregions, and periods often had their own specificities. Not all Brahmana settlements were the result of royal land grants. And although we will never have precise statistics, it is important to remember that brahmadeya villages must have formed a small proportion of settlements in most areas.

As already mentioned, from the point of view of the state, the creation of brah-madeyas generally involved a renunciation of actual or potential sources of revenue. Land grant inscriptions sometimes state that the land was granted along with treasure trove and hidden deposits, forests, and heirless property. Going by textual evidence, the king theoretically had rights over these, and the transfer of such rights to the donees would have affected the state’s prerogatives. Inscriptions also indicate that brahmadeyas were not to be interfered with by the state, its officers, or its soldiers. In the Chola empire, certain important brahmadeyas had taniyur status within the nadu (locality), i.e., they were independent of the jurisdiction of the nadu. All this indicates that for all practical purposes, the brahmadeyas were autonomous islands in the rural landscape, where the Brahmana donees were free to do as they pleased, and where the writ of the state did not apply. The apparent independence of the brahmadeyas was, however, tempered by their close relationship with the king.

In some cases, land grants involved the establishment of Brahmana settlements outside the margins of settled agricultural tracts, thereby leading to an extension of the margin of cultivation. But the vast majority of grants were made in areas that were already settled and where land was already being tilled. This is quite clear from the description of where the gifted villages were located, as well as from other details. For instance, post-12th century grants of Bengal often mention the annual income of the gifted land and state that the land was granted along with habitat land (vastu-bhumi). Evidently, what the grants usually did was to insert Brahmana donees into an already existing social, economic, and cultural web.

Brahmadeya land could vary from a small plot, a single village, or several villages. The number of donees, likewise, varied from a single Brahmana to several hundreds. There are instances of donees receiving multiple gifts. One of several examples of a vast area being granted to a large number of Brahmanas is recorded in the 10th century Pashchimbhag plate of Srichandra (from Bengal). This records a grant to 6,000 Brahmanas, along with several people associated with a matha (monastery) of the god Brahma, and a temple of Vishnu. Three vishayas (districts) in Shrihatta mandala in Pundravardhana bhukti were granted and were transformed into a brahmapura that was named Shrichandrapura after the king. The boundary details indicate that brahmadeyas were sometimes contiguous to each other, reflecting a trend towards an increase in the number and density of Brahmana settlements in certain areas.

The technical vocabulary of the land grant inscriptions is not always easy to unravel. It is clear, however, that the majority of the grants gave the Brahmana settlements a permanent tax-free status.

This meant that the land in question was considered tax free from the point of view of the state. The dues which the state may have actually or potentially been entitled to levy on the villagers were now to be paid to the donee. Brahmadeyas, thus, had a special revenue status, and the right to collect and retain revenue was vested in the donees.

FURTHER DISCUSSION

Kara-shasana s and kraya-shasanas

While most land grant inscriptions specify that the gifted land was tax exempt from the point of view of the state, there are a few exceptions. Such tax-paying grants are known as kara-shasanas. The few instances of kara-shasanas come from Orissa, Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh. Given below are the examples from Orissa.

The Bobbili plates of Chandavarman state that the registration of the amount payable for the village was fixed at 200 panas to be paid annually in advance, as in the case of the 36 (i.e., all other) agraharas.

The Ningondi plates of Prabhanjana-varman suggest that the dues for the land were fixed at 200 panas to be paid in advance.

The Ganjam grant of the Shvetaka Ganga king Prithivivarmadeva states that the land was given subject to the payment of taxes (sa-karikritya), and the annual rent is specified as 4 palas of silver.

Among the grants of the Gangas of Kalinganagara, the Kalahandi grant of Vajrahasta seems to stipulate the amount of rent to be paid in the month of Phalguna. The Chicacole grant of Anantavarman states that the revenue was fixed at 10 mashakas (probably meaning either 10 coins or silver weighing 10 mashakas).

The Angul plate of the Bhauma-Kara queen Dharmamahadevi seems to suggest that Shakemva village was given as a revenue-free gift, while 10 malas of land in Deshala village were given subject to the annual payment of 3 palas of silver.

The Jurada grant of Nettabhanja states that the annual sum levied on the village was fixed at 4 palas of silver, and an additional 4 palas was to be paid in the form of a tax known as khandapala-mundamola (possibly a tax that had to be paid to the officer in charge of the territorial unit known as the khanda).

Among the Shulki inscriptions, the Talcher plate of Kulastambha specifies the trin-odaka (i.e., tax) as 2 palas of silver, even though the conventional phrases referring to the tax-free nature of the endowment are also present. The Puri plate of Kulastambha specifies the tax as 10 palas of silver.

The Talcher plate of the Tunga ruler Gayadatunga states that the tax had been fixed at 4 palas of silver. The Asiatic Society plate of the same king refers to the land as having been constituted into a kara-shasana and specifies the tax as being fixed at 9 palas of silver.

The two sets of Patna plates of the Somavamshi king Janamejaya Mahabhavagupta state that the annual tax had been fixed at 8 and 5 palas of silver respectively.

The absence of any specific reference to the tax-free status of the land in the grants of the imperial Gangas may suggest that these grants, too, were not tax free.

All this suggests the existence of at least two major categories of land grants—one that was exempt from all revenue claims of the state and another that remained subject to what was perhaps a nominal tax. The overwhelming majority of the grants fell into the former category.

Apart from the kara-shasanas (revenue-paying grants), a small number of inscriptions from early medieval India record secular sale deeds. These are known as kraya-shasanas. D. C. Sircar has pointed out that both the kara-shasanas and kraya-shasanas often carry the very imprecatory and benedictory verses that are a part of the regular land grants.

SOURCE Singh, 1994: 66, 240; Sircar, 1952

The permanent nature of the grant was expressed in statements to the effect that the gift was to last as long as the sun, moon, and stars, i.e., forever. This implied (this point was also sometimes stated explicitly) that after the death of the donee, his rights would be inherited by his successors. A few inscriptions indicate the re-gifting of villages to new donees. This shows that there was sometimes a gap between what was prescribed and what actually happened, but it is likely that the vast majority of gifts were at least initially inherited by the heirs of the original beneficiaries.

Royal land grants generally gave the donees fairly comprehensive rights over the resources of the land. However, beyond the general stipulations about the permanent, hereditary, and tax-free nature of the grants, there were significant differences in the terms of the grants across and within regions. The grants of the Palas, who ruled over parts of Bengal and Bihar between the 8th and 12th centuries usually state that the land was granted up to its boundaries, grass, and pastures (sva-sima-trinayuti-gochara-pary-anta), along with its ground (sa-tala), with the space above the surface of the ground (s-oddesha), with mango and madhuka trees (s-amra-madhuka), with water and dry land (sa-jala-sthala), and along with pits and barren spots (sa-gartt-oshara). It was exempt from all dues (a-kinchit-pragrahya) and was granted along with all the dues such as the bhaga, bhoga, kara, and hiranya (samasta-bhaga-bhoga-kara-hirany-adi-pratyaya-sameta). Pala inscriptions also have the term a-chata-bhata-praveshya, which means that the land was not to be entered by the king’s irregular or regular troops, i.e., soldiers of any kind.

The answer to the question of whether or not the Brahmana donees were granted judicial rights hinges on the interpretation of terms such as sa-dash-aparadha and sa-chauroddharana. These terms or their variants are found in inscriptions of some dynasties, including the Palas. Sa-dash-aparadha has been interpreted in three ways. According to one interpretation, it indicates that the

donees were given the right to the proceeds of fines imposed on people who had been found guilty of certain criminal offences. A second interpretation is that it referred to immunity from punishment granted to the donees in case they themselves committed such crimes. The third interpretation is that it refers to the right to try people who were accused of certain offences. The term sa-chauroddha-rana can be interpreted either as indicating the right to punish those found guilty of theft or as the right to realize fines from those found guilty of this crime.

Inscriptions from various parts of the country indicate the wide scope of authority vested with the donees. For example, certain inscriptions of Orissa describe the land as having been granted along with the habitat land and forest (sa-padr-aranya). This is similar to post-12th century inscriptions of Bengal which transfer rights over the habitat land (vastu-bhumi) to the donees. From the 9th century onwards, some inscriptions of Orissa (those of Udayavaraha and the Bhauma-Kara, Shulki, and Tunga dynasties) state that the land was granted along with control over the outposts in the village, landing or bathing places, and ferries (sa-kheta-ghatta-nadi-tara-sthan-adi-gulmaka). This can be understood as referring to rights over dues collected at these spots or as rights over military outposts at these places. Another significant stipulation occurs in inscriptions of the Bhauma-Karas, Adi-Bhanjas, Shulkis, and Tungas, where land is said to have been granted ‘along with weavers, cowherds, brewers, and other subjects’ (sa-tantravaya-gokuta-shaundik-adi-prakritika). Mention can also be made of certain land grants of Karnataka which indicate the transfer of sharecroppers (addhikas) along with the land.

At the same time, many donees did not have one important right—the right to alienate land, i.e., to transfer, sell, or dispose of it in any way. As mentioned in (< />)Chapter 9, the inalienability of gifted land is indicated by the stipulation that it had been granted according to the nivi-dharma, akshaya-nivi-dharma, or aprada-dharma. Similarly, several Orissa inscriptions contain the term a-lekhani-praveshataya. This meant that the land could not be made the subject of another document, i.e., it could not be sold. In such cases, the rights of Brahmana donees over the land gifted to them were more than those of a landlord, but less than those of a landowner.

THE IMPACT OF BRAHMANA SETTLEMENTS ON AGRARIAN RELATIONS

Royal patronage strengthened the economic power of a section of the Brahmana community and led to the further growth of a Brahmana landed elite. Members of this elite cannot be described as ‘Brahmana feudatories’, as this confuses them with other groups such as samantas or subordinate rulers who had to provide military service to their overlords. Even the term ‘Brahmana intermediaries’ is inappropriate, because the Brahmanas were not passing taxes or material resources on to the kings.

Most historians view the early medieval period as one of agrarian expansion, in which land grants played an important role. But there are major differences of opinion regarding the nature of agrarian relations during this time. How exactly did the establishment of brahmadeyas affect the rights of various sections of the rural community—large or small peasant proprietors, tenants, sharecroppers, and landless labourers? Do the long lists of pariharas (exemptions) that we find in many of the land grant charters indicate an increasing oppression of the peasantry? Varied answers have been given to such questions. The feudalism school argues that land grants led to an increasing subordination and oppression of rural groups by Brahmana donees. Burton Stein (1980: 63–84) speaks of a Brahmana–

peasant alliance in early medieval South India. The proponents of the ‘integration’ or ‘processual’ model have not directly addressed the issue of the nature of agrarian relations in any detail.

The insertion of Brahmana donees into the village community introduced a new element into agrarian relations, eroding the older ones. As mentioned earlier, in the context of Brahmana settlements in South India, Rajan Gurukkal has argued that such settlements involved the employment of non-family labour and hence eroded the kinship basis of production relations. The fact that most of the land grants carried with them a tax-free status meant that villagers were supposed to hand over various dues to the donees. Sometimes, inscriptions refer to taxes in a very general way. At other times, they specify a long list of tax exemptions —i.e., taxes that the villagers had to pay to the donees instead of to the state. The fact that the donees were also often given rights over water resources, trees, forests, and habitation area would have affected the rights enjoyed by the village community. Most village-level disputes must have been settled by a section of the village community and, therefore, where inscriptions suggest the possibility of the transfer of judicial rights or the right to collect fines for criminal offences, it is the rights of this section that would have been affected.

There seems little doubt that the terms of the brahmadeya grants, varied as they were, created a class of Brahmana donees who enjoyed superior rights and control over the resources and inhabitants of the village. In economic terms, the relationship between Brahmana donees and other rural groups was marked by dominance and exploitation. The substitution of state exploitation and control by the more close-at-hand Brahmana exploitation would no doubt have meant higher levels of subjection of the average farmer. This is not, however, the equivalent of the institution of serfdom in the European manorial system.

Although the general trend was towards increasing levels of social and economic stratification in rural society, the degree and specificities of this stratification varied in different areas. The level of economic dominance achieved by the donees was affected by a number of variables such as ecology, the availability of arable land, the level of organization among the Brahmanas, and the presence or absence of competing social and corporate groups. In Assam, where cultivable land was not in short supply and where large numbers of non-Brahmanas also held land, the extent of social and economic stratification was not as rigid as in other areas. In South India, corporate organizations of Brahmanas known as sabhas furthered the power of the donees. In Kerala, the power and influence of the sabha was enhanced by the absence of corporate organizations of other social groups. Increasing rural stratification sharpened socio-economic conflicts, although direct references to such conflicts are few and far between. Certain inscriptions of Karnataka, which do give direct instances of such conflicts, will be discused further on.

LAND GRANTS AS PART OF LARGER SOCIAL AND CULTURAL PROCESSES

B. D. Chattopadhyaya ([1994], 1997: 16) has argued persuasively that the major historical processes operative throughout Indian history, including the early medieval period, were the expansion of state society through the process of local state formation, the transformation of tribes into peasants and caste formation, and cult appropriation and interaction.

Land grants strengthened the position of a section of the Brahmanas in rural areas. They backed the Brahmana’s traditionally high social status by political support and economic power, and gave him wide-ranging control over land, resources, and people. Brahmanas emerged as a dominant caste in brahmadeya villages. In areas where brahmadeya villages were situated close to tribal

communities, the latter were introduced to plough agriculture. Some tribal groups were absorbed into the fold of caste society; others were given the status of outcastes or untouchables. The phenomenon of land grants was connected to the proliferation of castes in other ways as well. For instance, the need to record large numbers of land transactions was an important factor in the transformation of the kayasthas (scribes) from an occupational group into a caste.

The increase in the number and scale of land grants had an important impact on the Brahmanas themselves. Reference was made earlier to the emergence of regional classifications and hierarchies of status among Brahmanas. As they were drawn into new networks of activities and social relations, Brahmanas came to be divided into a number of sub-castes. Migrant Brahmanas tended to crystalize into sub-castes. In the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka areas, the engagement with temple religion led to the emergence of the Shiva Brahmanas—a Brahmana sub-caste associated with Shiva temples.

Integration into local society could also lead to the modification of marriage practices. In Kerala, while most Brahmanas maintained their partilineal system, the Brahmanas of Payyanur took to matriliny. The Nambudri Brahmanas had a custom (it is not clear when exactly it began) of the eldest son marrying a Brahmana woman, while the other sons had sambandam relations with Nayar women. This practice must have been geared towards keeping the property of the Brahmana family intact and consolidated. However, it could only have emerged within the context of the Nayar matrilineal society.

The early medieval period saw the increasing popularity of temple-based sectarian religion, and from about the 10th century onwards, inscriptions indicate an increase in royal patronage of temples. Was there any connection between the brahmadeyas and these developments? Some Brahmanas moulded their activities to the temple milieu by becoming temple managers, others took on the less prestigious vocation of temple priests. Inscriptions of South India testify to the direct participation of Brahmanas and Brahmana sabhas in temple management. Brahmana settlements in Kerala seem to have been temple centred right from the time of the earliest inscriptions. We can therefore assume that the Brahmanas of the brahmadeyas must have played an important role in the spread of temple-oriented religion, in spite of the fact that the inscriptions persist in emphasizing their Vedic, rather than their sectarian, affiliations.

Where established in or near tribal areas, brahmadeyas functioned as nodes of reciprocal interaction between Brahmanical and tribal religions, and different sorts of religious syntheses resulted. Tribal communities were exposed to Brahmanism and Brahmanism too was transformed in the course of its interaction with regional, local, and tribal traditions. In times of migration, marriages between Brahmanas and local women may have been an additional factor that furthered the interaction between the Brahmanical and tribal worlds. These interactions were reciprocal, but not equal or evenly balanced, as the Brahmanical elements eventually emerged as dominant. The cult of Jagannatha in Orissa is a good example of the Brahmanization of a tribal deity, and has been analysed in detail by many scholars (Eschmann, Kulke, and Tripathi, 1978). R. S. Sharma (1974) has suggested that the interaction between Brahmanical and tribal cultures via land grants played an important role in the emergence and development of Tantra.

The fact that the early medieval period with its proliferation of land grants to Brahmanas also saw such an enormous output in the sphere of Sanskrit literature does not seem to be a coincidence. We have seen how these centuries saw the opening out of avenues of employment for literate, learned Brahmanas in the administrative structures of proliferating royal courts. Brahmana scholars, poets,

and dramatists were also feted and patronized in these courts. Patronage through land grants may also have played an important role in promoting and sustaining Brahmana scholarship. Wealth based on the control of land, and the emergence of clusters of settlements inhabited by Brah-mana specialists in various branches of Sanskrit learning may have provided a section of the Brahmana intelligentsia with the security and wealth necessary for sustained intellectual activity.

Rural Society: Regional Specificities

From a general discussion of historical processes that affected the lives of villagers in various parts of the subcontinent, we move on to vignettes of the specificities of rural societies and agrarian relations in different regions. Direct textual evidence regarding the details and textures of rural life in this period is meagre. There is, however, a text that deals exclusively with various aspects of agricultural operations. This is the Krishi-Parashara (Majumdar and Banerji, 1960), apparently composed in the Bengal area some time between c. 950 and 1100 CE. Ascribed to an author named Parashara, it is written in Sanskrit verse, sprinkled with a few prose mantras, in simple and straightforward language and style. The Krishi-Parashara does not mention any form of irrigation and declares the knowledge of rainfall to be the root of agriculture. Towards this end, it gives a series of maxims concerning the relationship of planetary movements, seasons, wind direction, and rainfall. It recommends the use of weathervanes comprising a flag tied to a post. It advises the farmer about the importance of manure (sara) for a luxuriant paddy crop. It gives instructions for the proper procedure of rice cultivation. It offers advice regarding the kind of plough and draught animals that should be used. Eight different parts of the plough are distinguished. A ploughshare measuring 9 cubits, called the madika, is declared to be best suited for all operations.

After explaining how seeds should be preserved, the Krishi-parashara discusses the sowing procedure. This, it urges, is best done in Vaishakha (April–May), but the sowing of seeds for transplantation is best undertaken in Shuchi (May–July). After sowing the seeds, the mayika (probably a ladder-shaped instrument for levelling rice fields) should be used, otherwise the seeds would not grow evenly. The process of transplantation (ropanabidhi) is described and the suggestions about the distance at which seedlings should be planted vary according to prevailing planetary conjunctions. Instructions are given for thinning out the paddy (kattana), the removal of weeds (nistrinikaranam), and the regulation of water. Pausha (December–January) is harvest time, and details are given for planting the medhi, a pillar post in the middle of the threshing floor to which the oxen were tied. After harvesting and threshing the grain, states Parashara, the farmer should have it weighed with an adhaka (probably a vessel for measuring grain).

PRIMARY SOURCES

Popular agricultural sayings of early medieval Bengal

Although the Bengali language was fully developed by c. 1000 CE, there is scarcely any surviving pre-1300 CE literature in this language. The earliest works include the Dak Tantra, popularly known as the Dakar Bachan, a Buddhist Tantric work containing aphorisms and wise sayings in old Bengali. Another similar work, which has undergone more changes over time, is

the Khanar Bachan. According to popular belief, Khana was the daughter-in-law of the astronomer Varahamihira. The ‘Dak’ of the Dakar Bachan lives in popular imagination in the more humble form of a milkman. ‘Dak goala’ often appears as the signature of the sayings.

The sayings contained in these two works are largely concerned with agricultural matters, although they also touch on astrology, medicine, and domestic issues. Consisting of short, rhyming aphorisms, the Dakar Bachan and Khanar Bachan, are closely related to the soil and climate of Bengal, and even today serve as agricultural manuals for farmers in this region. Given below is a translation of some of the sayings of Dak and Khana:

If it rains in the month of Agrahayan [November–December], the king goes a-begging.

If it rains in the month of Paush [December–January], money may be had even by selling the chaff.

If it rains at the end of Magh [January– February], the king and his country become blessed.

If it rains in Phalgun [February–March], the millet chinakaon (Peanicum miliaceum) grows abundantly.

Khana says, the paddy thrives in the sun and the betel in the shade.

If the paddy gets profuse sunshine by day and showers by night, it develops rapidly. Khana says, the drizzling rain in the month of Kartik [October–November] does immense good to the paddy.

Hear, O son of ploughman, put some smut of paddy in the bamboo-bush; if you do so near the root of the shrubs, they will soon cover two kudas [about 174 square cubits] of land.

O son of ploughman, plant patol (Trichosanthis dioeca) in a sandy soil; your expectations will be fulfilled.

Sow the seeds of mustard close, but those of rye at some distance from one another. Cotton plants should be put at the distance of a leap from one another, and jute should by no means be planted near them, for cotton plants will perish if they come in contact with water from the jute-field.

If the sky is covered by mist in Chaitra [March–April] and there is plenty of paddy in Bhadra [August–September], the earth is afflicted with plague and other disasters of that sort.

If a southern wind blows in the month of Ashadh [June–July], there will be a flood in the year.

If in Paush there is heat in the atmosphere and cold in Vaishakh [April–May], in that year heavy rainfall will commence from the first part of Ashadh.

If the clouds take the form as if cut by spade and axe, and the wind blows off and on, it should be understood that rainfall will commence in a day or two; O my peasant friend, do not waste time in such weather, but busy yourself in constructing a ridge around your field to preserve the water.

If in the night the clouds cover the sky and there be rain throughout the day, O brother farmer, it will be in vain for you to go to your field for work.

SOURCE Sen, 1954: 17–27

Apart from prescriptions related to agricultural processes, especially the cultivation of paddy, the Krishi-Parashara also offers information on early medieval agricultural rituals and festivals in eastern India. The worship of cows in Kartika (October–November), during the go-parva (festival of cows), says Parashara, ensures the health of cattle for a year. The fruits of agriculture are denied, he continues, to the farmer who does not perform the hala-prasarana, the ceremonial first ploughing. In connection with fertility beliefs, we may note Parashara’s injunctions against allowing the collected seeds to come into contact with a menstruating woman or one who is barren, pregnant, or has just borne a child. We are told that during three days of the month of Ashadha, the Ambuvachi takes place—this is when the earth menstruates and seeds must not be sown. The mantra prescribed in the Krishi-Parashara for the dispersal of birds and animals from fields and to keep paddy fields free from disease consists of mystical syllables used in Tantric texts. On an auspicious day in Pausha, before the harvesting of paddy, Parashara states that a ceremony called the pushya-yatra should be performed. This included ceremonial feasting, dancing, music, and prayers to the sun. Deities mentioned in connection with agricultural operations include Prajapati (the text in fact begins with a salutation to him), Shachi, Indra, Marut, and Vasudha. However, it is Lakshmi who is the recipient of the final prayer at the end of agricultural operations, a prayer which Parashara recommends should be inscribed in granaries to ensure prosperity.

Inscriptions are more forthcoming than most texts about village life. The general term for ‘village’ in the early medieval inscriptions of Bengal and Bihar is grama or pataka. The vastu (homestead land) formed the core of the village settlement. The boundaries of landholdings were marked by rivers, marshy land, tanks, cattle paths, date and banyan trees, and adjoining villages. Villages sometimes had boundary walls or boundary posts. Inscriptions mention various types of trees— mango, jackfruit, betel nut, coconut, and madhuka. Rice was the staple crop and some inscriptions mention paddy fields. Almost all of the land grant inscriptions of the Sena dynasty give the dimensions of the gifted land in meticulous detail, using both surface measures (nala, pataka, bhu-pataka, etc.) as well as seed measures (drona, bhu-drona, adhavapa, etc.), which were probably originally calculated in terms of rice output. It is also interesting to note that all the Sena grants specify the annual revenue income of the gifted land in terms of currency units called puranas, kapardaka-puranas, and churnis. This suggests the maintenance of careful revenue records by the state.

Apart from royal functionaries, most of the land grants of Bengal and Bihar address the cultivators (kshetrakarah) or inhabitants (prativasinah) of the village. The invariable mention of Brahmanas and the chief among Brahmanas (Brahmanottarah) indicates their importance at the village level. A few inscriptions mention certain other groups of people as well. For instance, the Irda plate of Nayapala addresses tradesmen and clerks, in addition to cultivators and residents. The Ramganj plate of Ishvaraghosa includes the karmakaras (wage labourers) among those addressed. Some of the Pala grants mention the puroga—a village leader or chief. The terms mahattara or mahattama

can be understood as referring to village elders or heads. The term kutumbin is increasingly used in the sense of a farmer.

Nayanjot Lahiri’s (1991) study of the early medieval inscriptions of Assam suggests that in this region, agricultural activity and settlements were concentrated in or near the valleys of the Brahmaputra and other rivers. Such settlements are especially visible in the Tezpur and Guwahati areas. The frequent mention of rivers and streams in the description of village boundaries confirms the connection between the location of agrarian villages and riverine water resources. The hills that fringe the Assam valley (e.g., the Mikir, Khasi, Garo, Singori, Haji, and Sualkuchi hills) are conspicuous by their absence in the inscriptions. Apart from rivers and streams, the boundaries of villages are indicated by features such as agricultural fields, embankments, ponds, trees, roads, and villages. Rice cultivation was the most important activity in the agricultural villages. The habitations (vastu) were located in the midst of clumps of bamboo and fruit trees, surrounded by fields. Pasture land was sometimes situated on the borders of agricultural land, and in some cases may have consisted of agricultural land left fallow for a few years. Embankments geared towards controlling and channelizing water are mentioned frequently. Apart from rice, inscriptions mention various kinds of fruit (jackfruit, figs, black berry, mango, walnut, and sweet root) and trees (banyan, saptaparna, jhingani, odiamma, bamboo, and cane). Trees with trade potential included betel nut, sandalwood, and silk cotton. These do not seem to have been grown in plantations.

In Assam, as in many other areas, kings made grants of land to Brahmanas. The ranks of the rural community comprised Brahmanas, tribals, and several other groups. They included the kaivarttas (traditionally associated with fishing and boating) as well as other occupational groups such as potters and weavers. This suggests a combination of agricultural activity with craft specialization. Household units formed the core of agricultural labour. After the 9th century, there is a clear pattern of an increase in the number of agricultual settlements based on wet rice cultivation, which must have been accompanied by demographic growth.

Irrigation played an important role in the expansion of agriculture in early medieval Rajasthan (Chattopadhyaya [1973], 1997). Tanks and wells were the main sources of artificial irrigation, and there are many references to these in 12th–13th century inscriptions, especially in west Rajasthan, where water was most scarce. These mention different types of wells (dhimada/dhivada, vapi, araghatta/araghata/arahata), tanks, and reservoirs (tadaga, tatakini, pushkarini, etc.). Some tanks seem to have been named after people who built them.

Whether the Persian wheel was in use in early medieval Rajasthan is debated, and hinges on the interpretation of the term araghatta. The key issue is whether the reference is to the Persian wheel or to the noria, and whether the former was being used in India before the 13th–14th centuries. The noria is a wheel which has pots or buckets attached to its rim without a chain for carrying the pots, or a gear mechanism to ensure a continuous flow of water. It could only be used to draw water from close to the surface or from a river. The Persian wheel, on the other hand, had gears and a chain to carry the pots and was associated with a well. The araghatta seems to have been different from an ordinary well (dhimada) or a step well (vapi), and the general consensus among many historians is that it does refer to something similar to the Persian wheel, if not exactly identical to it.

Crops mentioned in the inscriptions of Rajasthan include rice, wheat, barley, jowar, millet, and moong. Oilseeds such as sesame and sugarcane were cash crops. There are references to crops growing in fields that were irrigated by tanks or wells, and the Dabok inscription of 644 CE suggests

the practice of growing two crops a year. The people who controlled irrigation resources included kings, royal officials, corporate bodies such as goshthis, and individual cultivators.

There was an expansion of irrigation works in the low rainfall areas of north Gujarat, Saurashtra, Kutch, and south Rajasthan (V. K. Jain, 1990: 24–34). The Aparaji-taprichchha of Bhuvanadeva, an architectural work composed in western India in about the 12th century, mentions rivers, lakes, wells, tanks, and arahattas as sources of water for irrigating fields. Inscriptional references to irrigation increased from the 7th–8th centuries to the 11th–13th centuries. Large numbers of tanks, wells, and step wells (vapis) were constructed in the 12th–13th centuries by rulers, nobles, and merchants. The Chaulukyas of Anahilavada took initiatives in building irrigation works and seem to have had an irrigation department. The expansion of irrigation must have facilitated double cropping. Inscriptions of western India mention irrigated fields of barley, millet, rice, wheat, and pulses. Irrigation played a significant role in the increasing cultivation of cash crops such as sugarcane, oilseeds, cotton, and hemp, which were important items of trade between the 11th and 13th centuries.

APERSIAN WHEEL

The inscriptions of Orissa (Singh, 1994: 238–39, 241, 196) mention various land measure terms such as timpira, muraja, nala, hala, and mala. The descriptions of the boundaries of land often contain a mixture of Sanskrit, Oriya, and Telugu words. Village boundaries were indicated by features such as trees, rocks, anthills, trenches, rivers, hills, embankments, tanks, wells, and the boundaries and junctions of adjoining villages. As for water resources, rivers and tanks are mentioned most frequently, while wells occur in fewer inscriptions. The Achyutapuram plates of Indravarman state that no one should cause hindrance to the donee if he opened the sluice of the tank. The reference seems to be to a royal tank (raja-tataka), mentioned among the boundaries of the gifted land.

The details of rural life and agrarian relations in South India will be discussed later in this chapter.

Urban Processes in Early Medieval India

The idea of a decline of cities, urban crafts, trade and money in early medieval times is an important part of the hypothesis of Indian feudalism. In the previous chapter, there was reference to R. S. Sharma’s theory of a two-stage urban decay, one beginning in the second half of the 3rd or the 4th century, and the second one starting after the 6th century (Sharma, 1987). Sharma has summarized archaeological data from various regions to substantiate his theory. He admits that the Indian literary evidence for urban decay is not strong, but cites the accounts of Xuanzang and Arab writers. His explanation of urban decay centres around a supposed decline in long-distance trade. Urban decline undermined the position of urban-based artisans and traders; artisans were forced to migrate to rural areas; traders were not able to pay taxes; the distinction between town and village became blurred. Urban contraction was, however, accompanied by agrarian expansion. Elsewhere, Sharma ([1965], 1980: 102–5) cites epigraphic references to the transfer of rights over markets to donees, merchants transferring part of their profits to temples, and the transfer of customs dues from the state to temples. On this basis, he talks of a feudalization of trade and commerce. He argues that a mild urban renewal began in some parts of the subcontinent in the 11th century, and that urban processes were well-established by the 14th century. A revival of foreign trade—linked to an increase in the cultivation of cash crops, better irrigation techniques, increasing demand for commodities, improvements in shipbuilding and an expansion of internal trade—is cited as a major reason for the urban revival, as well as for the decline of the feudal order.

As mentioned in (< />)Chapter 9, the hypothesis of urban decline can be questioned on various grounds. Chattopadhyaya ([1986], 1997) has argued that the early medieval period saw the decline of certain urban centres, but there were others that continued to flourish, as well as some new ones that emerged. Xuanzang suggests that cities such as Kaushambi, Shravasti, Vaishali, and Kapilavastu were in decline. But he also mentions flourishing ones such as Thaneswar, Varanasi, and Kanyakubja. The archaeological data on the settlements of the period is patchy and inadequate. But some early historical cities continued to be inhabited during early medieval times, e.g., Ahichchhatra, Atranjikhera, Rajghat, and Chirand. Chattopadhyaya also marshalls epigraphic evidence from the Indo-Gangetic divide, the upper Ganga basin, and the Malwa plateau, with a special focus on the sites of Prithudaka (modern Pehoa in Karnal district, Haryana), Tattan-dapura (Ahar, near Bulandshahr, UP), Siyadoni (near Lalitpur in Jhansi district, MP), and Gopagiri (Gwalior). While Prithudaka may have been a semi-urban marketing centre, the other three clearly had an urban status in the 9th–10th centuries. Inferences about the continued vibrancy of city life can also be made on the basis of the numerous literary works and the sculpture and architecture, which must have been substantially, if not entirely, patronized by urban elites.

With regard to monetary history, John S. Deyell (1990: 4–7) has convincingly shown that money was not scarce in early medieval India, nor were states of the time suffering from a financial crisis. There was a reduction of coin types and a decline in the aesthetic quality of coins, but not in the volume of coins in circulation. The main focus of Deyell’s work is on the post-1000 CE period, but the roots of the currency systems of that period lay in the preceding centuries. He also points out that the debasement of coinage was not necessarily a signal of financial crisis of the state nor of a general economic crisis. In fact, it could reflect an increasing demand for coins in a situation where the supply of precious metals was restricted. Such shortages occurred for a variety of reasons, from time to time, in different parts of the world. We know that Afghanistan was a major source of silver for the Indian subcontinent. Deyell argues that north India experienced a sustained shortage of silver in

1000 CE (and in some places as early as 750 CE), and that this made it necessary for rulers to dilute the silver content of their coins.

Traders of the subcontinent were part of a wider world of trade interactions that connected Africa, Europe, and various parts of Asia. From the 7th century onwards, the Arabs swiftly expanded their political dominion into northern Africa, the Mediterranean region, central Asia, and Sindh. Their territorial conquests in Egypt, Persia, and Sindh gave them strategic control over Indian Ocean trade. The political success of the Arabs had important implications for the spread of Islam as well as for the expansion of international trade. Arab conquests and the establishment of the Ummayid and later, the Abbasid caliphates, made it possible for Arab traders to emerge as lead players in trade along the overland as well as the maritime routes that connected Europe with East Asia.

Texts such as the 9th century Ahbar as-Sin wa’l-Hind describe the long maritime journeys made by Arab traders from ports in Oman to Quilon (Kollam) in Kerala and on to China, via the port of Kalah-bar (probably located north of Singapore) and the Malacca Straits. K. N. Chaudhuri (1985: 37–41) has shown out that by the 11th century, the Indian Ocean trade was divided up into smaller segments—the stretch from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf to Gujarat and Malabar; from the Indian coast to the Indonesian archipelago; and from Southeast Asia to East Asia. Great trade emporia emerged at the junction of these three segments, providing merchants with cargo, shipping services, and protection. They included Aden, Hormuz, Cambay, Calicut, Satgaon, Malacca, Guangzhou, and Quanzhou. Chaudhuri highlights the importance of silk, porcelain, sandalwood, and black pepper in the Asian trade of medieval times. These commodities were exchanged for various items such as incense, horses, ivory, cotton textiles, and metal products. India’s maritime networks were strongly oriented eastwards, towards China and East Asia. Sri Lanka was an important hub of Indian Ocean trade.

Ranabir Chakravarti (2002: 187–219) highlights the importance of mandapikas in the trade circuits of early medieval India. These were, for the most part, local centres of exchange that constituted an intermediate level between the small, periodic markets (hatta, hattika) and larger trade centres (pattana). The mandapikas were integrated into their rural hinterlands, and functioned as nodes of exchange of various types for edible staples and cash crops. They were also centres for the collection of commercial tolls and duties. They were analogous to the penthas in the Deccan and the nagarams further south. Chakravarti also draws attention to the tradition of raja-shreshtis (royal merchants). Although the references to such merchants go back to the 4th/3rd century BCE, they are mentioned more frequently in the early medieval period, especially in the Deccan and South India. These royal merchants may have procured luxury items and war animals for rulers. It is not certain whether they also collected revenue at trade centres on the king’s behalf.

The analysis of the literary and epigraphic sources of western India (c. 1000–1300 CE) by V. K. Jain (1990) indicates that traders of this region were carrying on business in luxury goods as well as in staples such as foodgrains, pulses, salt, oil, ghee, jaggery, coconut, betel leaf, arecanut, spices, textiles, pottery, animals, fragrances (e.g., sandalwood, camphor, musk, aloe, and saffron), ivory, and gold. Jain suggests that Indian traders of western India tended to confine their operations to coastal and internal trade, leaving the operations further afield to the Arabs and others. The main imports into western India included metals (both base and precious), silk, gems, spices, wine, frankincense, and horses. As far as exports are concerned, there was a change during the 11th–13th centuries. Before this, India’s exports mainly comprised luxury goods such as fine textiles, silk, and spices.

From the 11th century onwards, although these remained important, there was a significant expansion in the range of exported items, which came to include sugar, cotton and flax cloth, buckram, tanned leather, leather goods, and weapons such as swords and spears. Hoards of gadahiya/gadhaiya coins of the 7th– 12th centuries have been found in various parts of western India, indicating the use of money as a medium of exhange. Traders also used hundikas or bills of exchange, which facilitated large-scale transactions without the use of money. Inscriptions often mention toll houses (shulka-mandapikas), and commercial taxes were an important source of state income.

Merchants played an important role in the administrative organization of the Chaulukyas, occupying important civic and military posts such as those of the mahamatya and dandadhipati. Many of the traders of western India were Jainas. Jaina texts such as the Shatsthanakaprakarana of Jineshvara Suri (11th century) laid down the ethical code that Jaina merchants should follow. Merchants of Gujarat made their mark not only as patrons of learning but also as writers of works of kavya, poetics, philosophy, and grammar. Hemachandra, who wrote several important Jaina texts as well as works on subjects such as grammar, metrics, and philosophy, was the son of a merchant of Dhandhuka. Gujarat merchants made generous grants to support the building of temples, wells, and tanks. The temples at Mount Abu and Girnar reflect such patronage. Inscriptions from this region also refer to tolls and taxes that were due from merchants being transferred to religious establishments for their maintenance and for the celebration of festivals.

India’s trade with Southeast Asia and China grew in the early medieval period. The trade with Southeast Asia will be discussed in the later section on urban processes of South India. Tansen Sen (2003: 236–37) has argued that between the 7th and 15th centuries, there was a major change in the nature of Sino-Indian interactions, from Buddhist-dominated to trade-centred exchanges. By this time, China itself had emerged as a major centre of Buddhism. The increasing Sinification of Chinese Buddhism and the growing importance of indigenous Chinese Buddhist schools and practices had led to a reduction in the importance of cultural transmission from India to China. The stream of Buddhist monks moving between India and China continued in the 10th and 11th centuries, as did the project of translating Indian texts into Chinese. But Indian Buddhism was no longer an essential lifeline for the survival and growth of Chinese Buddhism. Sino-Indian trade links in early medieval times can be divided into three phases. The 7th–9th centuries saw a continuation of the earlier demand for Buddhist ritual items. In the 9th–10th centuries, there was a decline in overland trade between India and China due to disturbed political conditions in central Asia and Myanmar. In the late 10th century, both tributary and commercial relations were revived, and overland and maritime trade grew significantly.

Xuanzang mentions silk among the most popular materials for clothing in India. One of the Sanskrit words for silk is kausheya. This was probably indigenously produced silk, as opposed to china-patta or chinamshuka, which was either Chinese silk or silk woven from Chinese yarn in India (Liu, 1996: 49–72). As mentioned in (< />)Chapter 9, although silk was manufactured in India, it was not as fine as Chinese silk, and the demand for the latter therefore continued. Silk fabric and garments were important gift items brought to India by Chinese diplomatic missions and monks. However, by the 11th century, Chinese porcelain had overtaken silk as an import into India. Some of the porcelain was carried further westwards by traders to the lands bordering the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, where too it was much in demand. Other Chinese items imported into India included hides, vermilion, fruits (such as pears and peaches), camphor, lacquer, and mercury. There is also mention

of metals such as gold, silver, and copper coming from China. As for items imported by China from India, these seem to have increased in range in the 11th century, and included horses, frankincense, sandalwood, gharu wood, sapan wood, spices, sulphur, camphor, ivory, cinnabar, rose water, rhinoceros horn, and putchuck. Some of these items, such as frankincense and rose water, originated in the Persian Gulf area and moved on eastwards from the Indian ports. Others originated in India. By the end of the 13th century, Indian textiles became one of the most important Indian exports to China (Sen, 2003: 182–85)

The expanding trade between China and India was accompanied by a re-orientation of routes. From the 8th century onwards, the maritime routes between India and China became more frequently used than the overland ones. One of the sea routes went through the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, while another one passed by the Bay of Ben-gal ports on to Sumatra and the South China Sea. The increasing preference for the sea routes was partly due to changes in maritime technology, specifically the shift from sewn ships to sturdier ones with nailed hulls.

The diversification of trade commodities and trade links seems to be the general pattern as far as Indian trade in the early medieval period is concerned. Meera Abraham’s (1988) analysis of the list of commodities mentioned in inscriptions of the Ayyavole guild indicates a shift away from luxuries towards a greater emphasis on staples and basic goods such as yarn, textiles, dyes, processed iron, pepper, and horses. Abraham also points out that in the mid-12th century, inscriptions started recording the import of large quantities of goods imported into South India from West Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. The imports included precious stones, pearls, perfumes, aromatics, myrobalans, honey, wax, textiles including silk, spices, horses, and elephants. Lists of export items handled by members of the South Indian merchant guilds include cotton textiles, spices (e.g., pepper), iron, dyes, ivory, areca, and putchuck. From the 13th century, the west coast became increasingly important. Quilon (Kollam) was an important port and the Chinese Yuan emperors sent missions to this place. The shift in the centre of gravity towards the western ports of South India and Sri Lanka indicates an expansion of Indian trade links with Egypt and West Asia.

While discussions of early medieval maritime trade tend to be dominated by a focus on the ports of Gujarat and South India, the Bay of Bengal ports also had a role to play, even though the activity was not as intense as that off the Malabar, Coromandel, or Gujarat coasts. Till the 8th century, Tamralipti (Tamluk in Medinipur district) was the most important port in Bengal. Samandar, probably located near Chittagong, rose to prominence in the post-8th century CE and is frequently mentioned in the Arab accounts.

There was also active interaction between the Orissa coast, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Excavations at Khalakapatna (on the left bank of the Kushbhadra river in Puri district) and Manikapatna (on the channel connecting Chilka lake with the Bay of Bengal) have yielded important evidence. Chinese celadon ware and porcelain, two Chinese copper coins, and some glazed pottery which may have originated from West Asia were found at Khalakapatna, which seems to have been an important port between the 11th and 14th centuries. Manikapatna has revealed a cultural sequence from the early historical period to the 19th century CE. Chinese pottery, including celadon ware (and possibly also local imitations), and Chinese copper coins have been found here (Sahu, 1994–95).

The early medieval period saw migrations of several communites involved in trade. Among the earliest such movements were those of Arab and Persian traders, who settled along the Konkan, Gujarat, and Malabar coasts. An inscription of 875 CE records the king of Madurai granting asylum

to a group of Arabs. This is the first instance of an Arab settlement on the Coromandel coast. Arabic inscriptions at Cambay, Prabhasapattana (Somanath), Junagadh, and Anahilavada indicate that Arab shipowners and traders were living in these parts of Gujarat in the 13th century. A Jewish community took root in the Malabar area. Political developments in West Asia also led to movements that affected the subcontinent. The Arab expansion in West Asia led to several movements of Christians and Zoroastrian Persians (Parsis) to the Kerala coast.

Historical Processes in Early Medieval South India

THE NATURE OF SOUTH INDIAN STATES

We now move to a more specific focus on South India. The historiography of early medieval South India has gone through several distinct phases. The writings of pioneering scholars such as Nilakantha Sastri represented a major initiative in weaving together the scattered data from diverse sources into a larger historical narrative. However, this narrative was tinged with nationalist fervour, and there was a tendency to glorify the Chola state, which was presented as a highly centralized empire. This approach came in for severe criticism in the 1960s, when Burton Stein ([1975], 1976) put forward a hard-hitting critique of the ‘traditional historiography’ represented by scholars like Sastri, T. V. Mahalingam, and A. Appadorai. According to Stein, a major flaw in their interpretation of the early medieval polity of South India was that they did not relate the state to society and economy, especially to the agrarian order. He pointed out that there was an inconsistency between the glorification of the Chola state as a strong, centralized, bureaucratized monarchy, and the simultaneous eulogy of strong local self-governing institutions. The fault, according to Stein, did not lie in the understanding of the economy, but in the characterization of the state.

Central to Stein’s alternative model were the concepts of sacral kingship, segmentary state, peasant society, and peasant state. According to Stein, the theory as well as practice of South Indian kingship reflects a sacred kingship rather than bureaucratic or ‘constitutional’ kingship. The effective power of kings and their control over people and resources were confined to the core areas around their political centres, outside which kings were basically ritual figures. Land revenue was extracted only from a limited area and states were dependent on looting expeditions for their sustenance. Stein denied the existence of a Chola bureaucratic machinery through which the state could have made its presence and control felt at the local level. He also denied the existence of a Chola standing army, arguing that military power was distributed among various groups including peasants, merchants, and artisans. Deprived of the supports of a bureaucracy, revenue collection machinery of any significant dimension, and standing army, the hypothesis of a centralized Chola state collapses.

While it is true that the omnipotence of the Chola state was exaggerated by earlier scholars, there are many problems in the alternative offered by Stein. It is difficult to accept his description of early medieval South Indian kingship as purely sacral. Such a description ignores the basis of enduring power and military success achieved by dynasties such as the Cholas. Stein emphasizes that looting expeditions were the basis of ancient Indian kingdoms and cites the military expeditions of Samudragupta and the petty cattle raiders of South India as examples. It can be countered that these two examples actually reflect two qualitatively different types of political systems. War and loot were certainly part and parcel of the politics of ancient and early medieval kingdoms, but the formation and persistence of empires such as the Maurya, Gupta, Satavahana, and Chola indicates

that they were based on something more than sporadic looting expeditions. Some sort of administrative structure and revenue infrastructure did exist in these polities, and long-term or sustained military success was ultimately based on the state’s ability to mobilize and control people and resources. Stein also creates an artificial dichotomy between ritual sovereignty and ‘real’ power. In fact, he confuses effective political or coercive power with centralized control.

The research of Karashima (1984) indicates that several titles in Chola inscriptions refer to administrative offices, and that the Chola kings made certain attempts to centralize their administration. This is confirmed by the study of tax terms by Subbarayalu (1982) and Shanmugan (1987). Heitzman’s analysis of tax terms and functional titles in Chola inscriptions shows that although the early Chola state reveals few hints of an elaborate administrative system, from about 1000 CE, a hierarchy of royal land revenue officials began to reach out in a thorough and systematic fashion to villages through-out Cholamandalam. There was also an increase in the personal involvement of Chola kings in issuing orders aimed at directing and re-organizing land taxation (Heitzman, 1997: 227).

KEY CONCEPTS

The segmentary state, according to Southall and Stein

The idea of the segmentary state is based on anthropologist Aidan W. Southall’s Alur Society: A Study in Processes and Types of Domination (1953). Southall argued that the political system of the African Alur tribe combined lineage segmentation and political specialization. Southall discussed the process whereby this immigrant tribe established its domination over a series of chiefless societies, often without the use of force. According to him, in many parts of the world, at most times in history, the form of political organization has been segmentary rather than unitary.

Southall made a fundamental distinction between a unitary and a segmentary state. The unitary state is a political system in which there is a central monopoly of power exercised by a specialized administrative staff within defined territorial limits. The power structure of a segmentary state is different. In this case (this is somewhat confusing) ‘specialized political power is exercised within a pyramidal series of segments tied together at any one level by the oppositions between them at a higher level and ultimately defined by their joint opposition to adjacent unrelated groups’ (Southall, 1953: 260). Further:

Territorial1. sovereignty is recognized but limited and relative. Political authority is strongest near the political centre and gets more and more diluted towards the periphery, often shading off into a ritual hegemony.

There2. is a centralized government, but there are also many peripheral foci of administration over which the centre exercises only limited control.

There3. is specialized administrative staff at the centre, but it is repeated on a reduced scale at all the peripheral foci of administration.

Monopoly4. of the use of force is successfully claimed to a limited extent and within a limited range by the central authority, but legitimate force of a more restricted type is associated with the peripheral foci as

well.

There5. are several levels of subordinate foci of power. They are organized pyramidally in relation to the central authority. Similar powers are repeated at each level, but with a decreasing range. The peripheral authorities are reduced images of the central authority.

The6. more peripheral a subordinate authority, the greater opportunity it has to change its allegiance from one power pyramid to anther. Segmentary states are thus flexible, fluctuating, and interlocking.

Burton Stein (1980) added some additional points to Southall’s description of the segmentary state. He suggested that sovereignty in a segmentary state is dual, consisting of actual political control and ritual sovereignty. There could be a multiplicity of centres, one a source of ritual sovereignty, the others exercising political control over territorial segments. Stein asserted that the specialized ad ministrative staff at the centre may have its counterparts at the level of the lower segments as well. Further, the organization of the segmentary state is pyramidal in two senses—first, the relationship between the centre and the peripheral foci of power is in all cases identical; and second, there is opposition which is complementary among the parts of the state as a whole, as well as within any constituent segment.

The problem is that the segmentary state is a conceptual category that includes within its purview states that have very little in common except a certain ‘segmentation’ of power—take the contrasts between the Alur tribal system and medieval European feudal states. Southall actually allowed for a whole range of segmentary states, with systems such as the Alur standing at a lower rung, and suggested that it would be a good idea to identify different varieties of segmentary states.

In view of the catch-all nature of the category of the segmentary state, it does not seem to be a very useful theoretical model for understanding state systems. As for early medieval South India, the empirical evidence does not correspond to Southall’s or Stein’s concept of a seg-mentary state. The focus on segmentation gives inadequate attention to the processes making for integration. And the abstract discussion of the relations within and among the various segments, as described by both Southall and Stein, is not particularly clear.

The framework that Stein considers most applicable to early medieval South India is that of the segmentary state. As will be discussed further on, the usefulness of this model and its applicability to early medieval South India can be questioned. Stein’s description of the early medieval South Indian state as a peasant state is even more questionable and seems to represent an extreme reaction to the idea of a highly centralized monarchy. The existence of corporate village organizations does not indicate that peasants excercised political power at a higher level.

SEE (< />)P(< />). 591 FOR A DISCUSSION OF THE CONCEPTS OF PEASANT SOCIETY AND PEASANT STATE

The feudalism model has been applied to early medieval South India by scholars such as Kesavan Veluthat (1993) and R. N. Nandi (2000). Other scholars prefer to side-step both the segmentary and feudal models and to focus on specific issues. For instance, Heitzman discusses the mode of production and the links between land, labour, and the state structure. Similarly, while marshalling an impressive range of inscriptional data, Karashima (1984: xxiv–xxvi) holds that there are problems with both the feudal and the segmentary models, and that the Chola period did in fact see the formation of a central-ized state. But he asserts that his aim is to focus on certain specific issues, not to present any overarching theoretical framework.

The volume of data on state and society in early medieval South India has been growing steadily. However, much of the scholarship has focused on the Chola state and society. An important issue to be kept in mind is that South India should not be considered as a homogeneous unit for the purposes of analysis, nor should its history in the early medieval period be exclusively equated with the Cholas. There were differences in the historical processes unfolding in the core areas of Cholamandalam in the Kaveri valley and those of other areas such as Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra. This issue has been factored into the following discussion, wherever possible.

ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURES

Early medieval states of South India were clearly not as powerful or centralized as suggested by Sastri, nor as ineffectual as suggested by Stein. The important functionaries associated with the royal court included the king’s advisers and priests. Chola inscriptions mention the Brahmana purohita and rajaguru. The Pallavas and Cheras had a council of ministers and the Pandya inscriptions refer to mantrins (ministers) who may have been organized into a council. Other high-ranking functionaries who were closely associated with the king in early medieval courts, but whose functions are not certain, include the adhikari, vayil ketpar, and tirumandira-olai (Veluthat, 1993: 75–86).

Karashima, Subbarayalu, and Matsui’s (1978) concordance of personal names, epithets and titles in Tamil inscriptions reveals several functionaries who were associated with the central adminstration. The larger number of terms for offices and officials in the Chola inscriptions compared to those of the Pallavas, Pandyas, and Cheras, suggest an expansion of the administrative structure, especially from the reign of Rajaraja I (985–1016) onwards. After the reign of Kulottunga I (1070–1122), there is a decline in such references, indicating that a reverse process had set in. The titles of individuals associated with administrative offices include araiyan, an honorific for important people. Some functionaries associated with the court had titles such as udaiyan, velan, and muvendavelan, indicating that they were landowners.

Officials at the nadu (locality) level included the nadu-vagai, nadu-kakani-nayakam, nadu-kuru, and kottam-vagai. The precise functions of many of these officers are not certain and there seems to have been some overlap in their duties. There are also indications of a hereditary element in official appointments.

The Cholas had a large land revenue department consisting of several rungs, but it was largely concerned with maintaining accounts. The assessment and collection of revenue were undertaken by corporate bodies such as the ur, nadu, sabha, and nagaram, and sometimes by local chieftains, who passed the revenue on to the centre. In the early 11th century, during the reign of Rajaraja I, the Chola state initiated a massive project of land survey and assessment, and there was a reorganization of the

empire into units known as valanadus. Two surveys were also conducted in the reign of Kulottunga I. In the post-Rajaraja period, the revenue department was known as puravu-vari-tinaikkalam or the shri-karanam.

Certain frequently occurring terms in inscriptions give information about the dues imposed by the state on cultivators. Eccoru referred to the obligation of villagers to provide food for state officials. Muttaiyal and vetti meant the obligation to provide labour services. Kudimai was another term for such labour services. In the early Chola period, there were many land revenue terms such as puravu, irai, kadan/kanikkadan, and opati. Kadamai emerged as the most important land revenue term in the later Chola period. Its precise rate is uncertain (it may have been as high as 40 to 50 per cent of the produce), and it seems to have been collected in kind. The antarayam was a rural tax realized in cash. There is a steady rise in the number of revenue terms in inscriptions, peaking during the reign of Rajendra II (1052–63 CE), and declining from the time of Kulottunga I.

The many military expeditions of the kings of early medieval South India suggest an effective army organization, but details are meagre. The personal bodyguards attached to kings and chieftains were connected to their lords through ties of loyalty. There was a hereditary element in their selection and they seem to have been given assignments of land revenue. There was some sort of standing army, recruited and maintained by the state, and the senapati and dandanayakam were important military officers. Chola inscriptions mention several military contingents. Periodical levies of troops from the chieftains supplemented the standing army, when required. The expedition to Sri Lanka during the reign of Rajaraja I and the Shri Vijaya expedition during the reign of Rajendra I are often cited as evidence of a Chola navy. Whether this was a regular, separately recruited and organized naval force, or whether we are looking at episodes when armed forces were transported across the oceans, is not certain.

Regarding the administration of justice, scholars such as Sastri suggested the existence of a central or royal court of justice called the dharmasana. However, this seems more a reflection of the idea that the king was theoretically the highest court of appeal. The day-to-day administration of justice seems to have been actually handled by various local bodies such as the sabha.

RURAL SOCIETY

Burton Stein (1980: 67–68) described the society of early medieval South India as a ‘peasant society’. By this, he meant the following: most people of the time lived in settled agrarian villages; peasant agriculture and related occupations provided the main means of subsistence and wealth; the structure of social relations corresponded to the characteristics of peasant societies, including asymmetrical power relations with those powerful enough to demand a share of the produce; well-developed corporate organizations existed; and there were effective alliances among various corporate elements. Stein stated that his aim was to describe the agrarian basis of South Indian history during Chola and post-Chola times. But in attempting to redress the balance, and in emphasizing the peasantry as the prime social, economic, political, and cultural element in South Indian history, he ended up sidelining kings, chieftains, merchants, and other urban groups.

Stein acknowledged that caste principles of hierarchy and inequality gave an important specific quality to Indian peasant society, but argued that this feature could not be used to raise serious doubts about whether this was indeed a peasant society. In spite of the existence of segregation, internal hierarchy, and exploitation, in India, as elsewhere in the world, peasant life was marked by social,

ritual, and political interdependence and co-operation. Stein also asserted that, typical of peasant societies, the Indian peasant household was multi-dimensional, despite the caste-based division of labour and occupational specialization. Stein’s treatment of the peasantry as a virtually undifferentiated mass, at the most divided between lower and dominant sections, is questionable.

Another problematic aspect of Stein’s hypothesis is his description of the relationship between Brahmanas and peasants as an alliance. He described Brahmanas as the prime mediators of order and legitimacy and saw their interaction with the peasantry as the primary cultural nexus of South Indian peasant society during the early medieval period. The Brahmana–peasant alliance was a self-consciously worked out one, based on self-interest. Given the popularity of Buddhism and Jainism in the urban centres, Brahmanas realized that they were best off establishing their base in rural areas. As for the peasants, Stein suggested that they were aware of their need to forge some sort of cohesion and ideological unity against their perennial enemies—the hill people. The entire argument is unconvincing.

As far as the specific features of South Indian village life are concerned, it is evident that the basic unit of rural society was the ur. This term refers to the villages themselves as well as to the village assemblies. These were non-brahmadeya villages, and were also known as vellanvagai villages. Inscriptions indicate that apart from agricultural fields, these villages included the habitation area, sources of drinking water, irrigation works, pasture land, and cremation grounds. In the habitation area, the ur-nattam or ur-irukkai represented the residential quarter of the landowning farmers, the kammanacheri was the residential quarter of artisans, and the paraicheri the residential quarter of agricultural labourers.

A hierarchy of rights and statuses existed at the village level. These included the socially and spatially segregated groups, also considered as ritually impure—the paraiyar. Then, there were the cultivating groups known as the vellalar, among whom a distinction can be made between landowning farmers (kaniyudaiyar) and tenant farmers (ulukudi). The vellalas were identified with the Shudra varna, but unlike in the north, the Shudra tag did not carry with it connotations of a lowly social status and discrimination. This is because the vellala were an economically powerful group; holders of that important basis of wealth—land. This gave them a status that was almost as high as that of the Brahmanas. Service groups such as potters and blacksmiths may have had control over small plots of land. An analysis of land transfers in the late Chola period indicates the emergence of economically powerful and locally influential landlords.

There are a few interesting references in Karnataka inscriptions to villages headed by women (Nandi, 2000: 217). For instance, an inscription belonging to 902 CE mentions the wife of a man named Bittayya as the head of a village named Bharangiyur. An inscription of 1055 refers to a woman named Chandiyabbe as a gavundi (village chieftain) and another woman named Jakkiyabbe as her mantraki (counsellor). An epigraph from the Shikarpur taluk mentions the wife of a district headman succeeding her husband to his office after his death.

The inscriptional evidence of royal land grants to Brahmanas in South India goes back to the 3rd/4th century, and this practice became quite widespread in the early medieval period. Karashima (1984: xx–xxi) suggests that there was an important difference in the patterns of landholding in brahmadeya and non-brahmadeya villages. While individual holdings existed in the former, communal holding prevailed in non-brahmadeya villages. However, there is evidence of individual ownership in non-brahmadeya villages. In general, the trends visible through the early medieval

period include the strengthening of individual property rights and an increasing disparity in the size of land holdings.

Inscriptions of the Chola period record several instances of land transfers via sale or gift, involving the transfer of kani rights. Kani signified the rights of possession over land, sometimes also associated with the idea that the possessor of these rights had certain duties and obligations to perform. Chola and Pandya land grants refer to two sorts of land rights—the karanmai (the right to cultivate) and the mitatchi (a superior possessive right). When these two terms occur together, they refer to the right to cultivate the land and to have it cultivated. There is also mention of kutimai (the right of occupancy). The karanmai was of two types—kudi nikki and kudi ninga. Kudi nikki suggests a situation in which people previously settled in the village were either removed or deprived of their rights. Kudi ninga meant that such people were not to be disturbed. Some land grants state that the land was granted along with the labourers attached to it.

A striking feature of the history of early medieval South India is the existence of a number of strong corporate bodies in the rural and the urban spheres. The ur was the corporate body of the vellanvagai villages. The members of this corporate body consisted of the tax-paying landowners of the village. Although the number of members was not fixed, it was usually less than 10. The ur dealt with various matters related to land management such as land sale, gift, and tax exemptions.

The sabha was the Brahmana assembly in brahmadeya villages. Membership was governed by criteria such as property ownership, family antecedents, learning, and good conduct. The sabha was concerned with managing landed property, including property associated with temples. Its duties included collecting revenue and maintaining accounts. It could also supervise religious activities in the temple. Going against the sabha’s decision was considered a serious offence, punishable by social ostracism. While the size of Brahmana sabhas in the Karnataka area was initially fairly small, some 11th–12th century inscriptions mention very large sabhas consisting of 300, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, and even 12,000 members. This suggests a growing Brahmana population in certain villages.

PRIMARY SOURCES

The history of a Karnataka village

Kanakatte is a village in the Arsikere taluk of Hassan district in south Karnataka. B. D. Chattopadhyaya analysed 15 inscriptions from this place in order to reconstruct the history of this village over about a hundred years. In the inscriptions, the village is called Kalikatti.

The earliest inscription is inscribed on a hero stone at Arakere. Dating to c. 890 CE and belonging to the reign of a Ganga king named Satyavakya Permanadi Rachamalla, it records the death of a samanta named Shri Muttara. Shri Muttara died heroically fighting a battle against the Nolambas. We are told that he was rewarded posthumously with the award of two villages— Arikere (which can be identified with the find-spot of the inscription) and Kalikatti. The benefit of this endowment must have gone to Shri Muttara’s descendents.

Over two centuries later, Kalikatti is mentioned in two inscriptions belonging to the reign of the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana (1108–42 CE). It had obviously become an important place as it is

described as the foremost village in a territorial unit known as ‘Magare 300’. One of the inscriptions is dated 1130 CE, and tells us that mahasamanta Singarasa of Arasikere obtained Kalikatti free from all obstructions and governed it. He installed a deity named Singeshvara (named after himself), and made some grants of dry and wet land to the Kalamukha priest for the maintenance of the Shiva shrine. One of the pieces of land was situated near the first ridge of the small sluice of the big tank (hiriya-kere) of the village. An inscription of 1132 CE suggests that Singarasa was removed from his headquarters at Arasikere and shifted to Kalikatti. Singarasa went on to install a linga named Bettadakalideva in the village, and granted some more gifts of dry and wet land near the big tank of the village, to the temple.

An inscription of 1189, belonging to the reign of the Hoysala king Ballala II, describes Kalikatti as a resplendent village (ur) with well-filled tanks, areca palms, rice fields, and fine temples. Several of the Kalikatti inscriptions mention the big tank of the village, and some mention its sluices. Other tanks, including one known as Aduva-gere, are also mentioned. Some tanks— Hariyoja’s tank, Mangeya’s tank, Boviti’s tank, and Bitteya’s tank—were named after the people who presumably owned them. The yoja suffix in Hariyoja’s name suggests that he was an artisan. The references to tanks being set up at different points of time reflect several initiatives to expand the irrigation infrastructure of the village, and this must have increased agricultural productivity.

The 12th century inscriptions give the names of various samantas and mahasamantas who ruled over Kalikatti. Some of them set up temples and donated lands to them. In early 13th century inscriptions, Kalikatti is referred to as a sthala or a nad. There is mention of its various hallis (hamlets), two new tanks, and two new images of deities enshrined in temples. The hiriya-kere of the old days was even now being mentioned. But a big change took place in this period—the settlement became an agrahara and was given the name Vijaya-Narasimhapura. The details of the inscriptions also throw light on the social changes that took place in the settlement over time.

SOURCE Chattopadhyaya, 1990

There were close links between some of the Brahmana sabhas and the Chola court. Two inscriptions from Uttaramerur state that the resolution of the sabha was made in the presence of an official especially deputed by the king. Even more telling are two Tanjavur inscriptions which indicate that Rajaraja I issued orders to the sabhas of Cholamandalam to perform various types of services in the Brihadishvara temple. Important brahmadeyas in the Chola empire had taniyur status. Taniyur means ‘separate village’. The villages concerned were considered independent entitites within the nadus in which they were located.

1

Several inscriptions from the Karnataka area point to sources of conflict within the rural community (Nandi, 2000: 125–27).Conflict could erupt over the introduction of Brahmana donees into a village. For instance, a mid-13th century epigraph tell us that the gaudas (cultivators) of a village protested against the conversion of their village into a brahmadeya, upon which the king sent an army to pillage the village in order to punish them. Conflicts could erupt over village resources. A 1230 CE inscription from Hassan taluk states that two farmers died while trying to prevent agents

of the Brahmanas from cutting down palmyra trees in their village. Water was an especially sensitive issue. A 1080 CE inscription from the same taluk refers to a conflict between a Brahmana and a farmer’s family over drawing water from a village tank. An early 13th century inscription mentions a conflict between farmers and a chief over an irrigation tank. The chief was killed and the Hoysala king set up a hero stone in his memory and built a new tank.

A 1231 CE inscription from Mannargudi, belonging to the time of Rajaraja III, reveals the burden of compulsory labour levies on farmers. It states that the nattar (leading men of the locality) of the taniyur village of Rajarajadhiraja-chaturvedimangalam complained to the Brahmana sabha and mahasabha of the unbearable burden of compulsory labour imposed on them. The problem was not simply a question of the amount that they had to pay, but of various collecting agencies who demanded the same levies. Some of the tax collectors seem to have been armed. The inscription also mentions nettal (compulsory labour) imposed on villagers for the repair work to be conducted in the capital city, Rajarajapuram. Subbarayalu (2000: 92–4) points out that this city was located about 35 km away from Mannargudi, and it would have been an arduous task for villagers to trek all the way there to fulfil their labour obligations. The sabha and mahasabha of the village met to consider the complaints of the leading men of the locality and specified the levies that could hereafter be imposed.

Recent scholarship suggests that the nadu—the ‘locality’ consisting of several settlements, rural or urban—was a more important unit than the village in early medieval South India. The term nadu also referred to the assembly of the locality. Nadus were usually named after one of their villages. It is difficult to identify the exact number of nadus in the Chola kingdom. Subbarayalu counted 140 in the Cholamandalam area and 65 in the area to its north. Their numbers were not static over time, and there was an increase after the 9th century. The fact that nadus varied a great deal in size indicates that they were not artificial administrative divisions created by the state. Clusters of villages similar to the nadu existed in the Pallava and Pandya kingdoms as well, though in the Pallava inscriptions, they are referred to as kottam. Such units seem to have been absent in the Chera kingdom.

Members of the nadu assembly were known as the nattar. They formed an influential corporate body that functioned collectively, and they figure among the people addressed in royal inscriptions. The nadu was the basic unit of revenue, and the nattar played an important role in revenue matters. They were responsible for land assessment and tax collection, passing on taxes to the various nadu-level officers of the king. The nattar also played an important role in managing irrigation works. They donated land to temples and were custodians of gifts made by others. Although it initially probably consisted mainly of the dominant landowners, in the course of the 12th and 13th centuries, the nadu assembly also came to include landowning artisans and merchants.

AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

The expansion of the agrarian economy was the result of various factors such as the extension of the margin of agriculture through land reclamation, the spread of irrigation techniques, and an expansion in the range of crops. The increase in the area under cultivation can be inferred from the fact that donees of land grants were sometimes given rights over forested area, references to forests in the vicinity of gifted land, and the mention of the transfer of wasteland to the donee. There is some direct evidence as well. A 6th century inscription of the Kadambas (who ruled over the Goa area) gave the Brah-mana donee the right to engage labourers in order to clear a piece of forested area and bring it

under cultivation. It also mentions the reclamation of a tract of coastal land, and its conversion to rice fields by damming up seawater.

NEW DIRECTIONS IN RESEARCH

Irrigation devices in early medieval Tamil Nadu

James Heitzman has analysed references in Chola inscriptions from five taluks in central Tamil Nadu—Kumbakonam, Tiruchirappalli, Tirukkoyilur, Tirutturaipundi, and Pudukkottai—and identified the distribution and changes in irrigation technology during the Chola period. The references to irrigation works—tanks, wells, canals, sluices—often occur in the descriptions of the boundaries of gifted land.

Going by the frequency of the references, Kumbakonam and Tiruchirappalli taluks show a strong reliance on canals. Canals constituted as much as 85 per cent and 84 per cent of the irrigation works mentioned in inscriptions from these two areas respectively. We can note that Kumbakonam taluk is in the lower Kaveri valley and Tiruchirappalli taluk is further upstream. Tanks constituted only 7 per cent of the total references. In Tirutturaippundi taluk, canals constituted 79 per cent of the mentioned irrigation works and tanks 15 per cent. In Pudukkottai taluk, the frequency of canals was 49 per cent and tanks 38 per cent. In Tirukkoyilur taluk, 60 per cent of the references were to canals and 23 per cent to tanks. Sluices constitute only 4.7 per cent of the references, while wells constitute 5.4 per cent of the terms.

The reasons for differences in irrigation technology between various sub-regions were to a large extent ecological, and depended on which type of technology was best suited to a particular terrain. Another interesting point is that inscriptions reveal striking similarities with the general patterns of irrigation prevalent in these areas today.

Canals and tanks were the major types of irrigation works utilized in early medieval Tamil Nadu. However, there were some changes over time. For instance, in both Kumbakonam and Tirukkoyilur taluks, over time, there is a systematic increase in references to canals and a reduction in references to tanks. In Pudukkottai taluk on the other hand, there is a decline in the frequency of references to canals.

If the data is put together, the picture that we get is as follows: In the Kumbakonam taluk, the development of the irrigation network began before the Chola period, and its basic nature remained unchanged through the period of Chola rule. In Tirukkoyilur taluk, tanks were initially the most important source of irrigation, but in course of time, river-fed canals became increasingly important. In Pudukkottai taluk, canal development may have peaked in the 11th century, after which it plateaued. In Tiruchirappalli taluk, investment in canals was relatively low in the 11th century, but went up in the 12th century.

SOURCE Heitzman, 1997: 38–54

The use of the araghatta (Persian wheel) spread to South India in the early medieval period. Inscriptions mention sluices which distributed the water of rivers and tanks. Nandi (2000: 91–94) has described the various improvements in agricultural technology in the Karnataka region. The first references to tanks with sluice-weir devices in this area belong to the 8th century, and the number of such references increases thereafter. An inscription of 890 CE from the Hiriyur taluk states that farmers of a village constructed a large tank provided with four sluices. The practice of building channels connecting tanks with river waters also took off, and there seems to have been a spurt in the building of tanks.

Chola inscriptions mention various types of irrigation works such as tanks, canals, wells, and sluices. Some Chola kings are credited with initiating tank and canal construction. For instance, Rajendra I is supposed to have begun the construction of the Cholaganga tank and canal network. Members of the village community, Brahmanas, kings, and chieftains played a role in the maintenance of irrigation works. However, when it came to the construction and maintenance of the more numerous small-scale irrigation works, members of the village community played a central role. The nattar stepped in when several villages were involved or affected. There are epigraphic references to tank maintenance committees (erivariya). Farmers were sometimes granted sowing rights over adjacent plots of land in return for taking on the responsibility of dredging tanks.

FURTHER DISCUSSION

Betel leaves and areca nuts

The chewing of pan (this word comes from the Sanskrit parna, which means ‘leaf’) is a widespread practice with a long history in South and Southeast Asia. The grits of areca nut (Areca catechu)—supari—are folded into a leaf of the betel vine (Piper betle) with a bit of slaked lime and kattha paste. The origins and early use of betel leaf and areca nut can be traced to Southeast Asia. Areca nut has been found in the Spirit Cave in Thailand, at levels belonging to c. 10,000–7000 BCE. Skulls with stained teeth typical of chewers of these substances have been found in c. 3000 BCE contexts in the Philippines. More specifically, areca nut may have originated in central Malasia. These commodities probably made their way into South India in the early centuries CE. In Sankrit, betel leaf and areca nut are called tambula and guvaka respectively.

The chewing of betel leaf is mentioned in the Jataka stories, as well as in the Charaka and Sushruta Samhitas, Brihat-samhita of Varahamihira, and the Mandasor inscription. Kalidasa’s Raghuvamsha associates the practice with South India. Shudraka’s Mrichchhakatika refers to betel leaf being eaten with camphor in Vasantasena’s mansion. In the Silappadikaram, Kannaki serves betel leaf and areca nut to her husband Kovalan at the end of the last meal he has before leaving home for Madurai.

The cultivation of these commodities in South India seems to have been in place by about the 5th century. The Pattuppattu mentions fields of areca palms, along with those of plantains, sugarcane, ginger, and coconut. A 812 CE inscription from Gubbi taluk refers to betel nut plants forming the boundary of a village granted to a Jaina shrine. The cultivation of betel leaf and areca nut was also widely prevalent in Bengal.

The references to betel leaves and areca nuts shoot up in sources of the 11th– 12th centuries, when many inscriptions from South India mention that land gifted to temples included betel vines and areca gardens. An 11th century inscription from Arsikere taluk refers to details of the harvesting and processing of areca nuts. It states that the crop was harvested by workers known as the koylasis and that the processing of the nuts for sale in the market was done by workers known as mottakaras. The frequent mention of these commodities in inscriptions reflects an increasing demand, both within the temple context and among elite groups.

Betel leaf and areca nut swiftly found their way into the minutiae of temple rituals. In earlier times, temple offerings included boiled rice, incense, and sandal paste. Now, betel leaf and areca nut were added to the list. Abu Zaid, an early 10th century Arab writer, mentions betel leaf being offered as a gesture of friendship and honour. There is mention of a custom of exchanging betel leaves in an inscription of Rajaraja Chola. A 12th century Chinese account by a traveller named Chou-Jakua tells us that chewing betel leaf was popular among kings and nobles.

Betel leaf and areca nut were among the important commodities involved in the trade networks of western India. An 1145 CE inscription from Mangrol, a port on the Saurashtra coast, refers to

a levy imposed on the camel loads, cartloads, and bundles of betel leaf arriving at this port, probably from South India. It suggests that there were special godowns for storing the leaf and special shops selling the commodity in the area.

The habit of chewing pan spread swiftly to many parts of the subcontinent. That it was an elite habit is indicated by the Dvyashrayakavya of Hemachandra, which states that on a certain day, even poor people must have pan. The Rajatarangini’s story of king Ananta being heavily in debt to a betel leaf seller named Padmaraja suggests that some betel sellers made good profits.

The medicinal properties of betel leaf and areca nut are suggested in ancient medical treatises. According to Al-Biruni, Indians ate betel leaves with lime after dinner because they were digestive aids. He also states that chewing areca nut was good for the teeth, gums, and stomach, because it had astringent properties. But apart from its perceived medicinal properties, the consumption of these items had clearly become a fashionable habit for those who could afford it. The increasing popularity of betel leaf and areca nut consumption can be compared with the more rapid and extensive spread in later times of other addictive commodities such as tea, coffee, and tobacco.

SOURCE Acharya, 1998: 48, 214; Nandi, 2000: 101–2

A steady extension of the margin of cultivation, the spread of irrigation works, and changes in market demand led to changes in patterns of land use. In the Karnataka area, apart from rice, there was an increasing emphasis on various types of millets such as priyangu (panicum italicum), ragi (eleusine coracana), jowar (sorghum vulgare), and bajra (bulrush millet). Also increasingly grown were inferior varieties of rice such as shyamaka, nivara, kangu, kodrava, and karadusha. There was an increase in the cultivation of cash crops such as sugarcane, betel leaves and areca nuts, coconuts, oranges, and spices such as black pepper and ginger.

URBAN PROCESSES

The early medieval period represents a second major phase of urban growth in South India. The hypothesis of urban decay has no validity whatsoever for this region. Cities played different, often multiple, roles—as political centres, centres of manufacturing and trade, and as sacred or ceremonial centres.

Market or commercial centres were known as nagarams. The nagaram was an urban space, connected mainly with the production and exchange of commodities, at the local, inter-regional, or international level. Agricultural produce also moved in and out of it. A nadu could have one or more nagarams. Like some of the important brahmadeyas, certain nagarams were given taniyur status, which made them independent and free of the jurisdiction of the nadu they were located in. The nagaram had a corporate body consisting of merchants, members of which were known as the nagarattar. This group was also involved in land management; it owned and managed land known as nagarakkani, from which it collected revenue.

The nagarams seem to have become increasingly important in the Chola period, when the nagarattar appear often as donors in inscriptions (Champakalakshmi, 1996: 45–46). The number

and lavishness of their gifts (mostly money, gold, and silver) peaked in the middle Chola period. At this point, there was also the emergence of corporate organizations associated with specialized groups—e.g., the Saliya nagaram and Sattum Parishatta nagaram, which were connected with the textile trade; the Shankarappadi nagaram, which was a corporate organization of oil and ghee suppliers; the Paraga nagaram, which was a corporate organization of seafaring merchants; and the Vaniya nagaram, a powerful organization of oil merchants.

There were significant improvements in craft techniques. For instance, the earlier hand oil mills used for oil pressing were replaced by bullock-driven oil mills. Improvements also took place in the textile weaving industry. An 11th century inscription from Challakere taluk mentions the grant of a site for setting up a loom.

Various centres of craft production can be identified, some showing a continuous growth from the early historical period. Kanchipuram, located in a major cotton-growing region, was one of the most important centres of the weaving industry from the early historical period onwards. Many other weaving centres mushroomed in the area around the city, and also in the Tanjavur and South Arcot district areas. In the 12th–13th centuries, weavers and merchants started investing in land and became part of the landowning elite.

There were close connections between cities, kings, and temples in South India. The background to these links included the increasing power of the Chola state, the increasing popularity of Vaishnava and Shaiva bhakti, and the emergence of the temple as a prominent religious institution in the urban landscape. In the late Pallava and early Chola periods, there was a significant shift of royal patronage from gifts to Brahmanas towards gifts to temples. Earlier kings of South India had built and patronized temples. But the Cholas constructed a large number of new, architecturally elaborate temples, and also rebuilt some of the old temples in stone. The magnificent temples at Tanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram were architectural proclamations of the close connection between the political and religious domains.

The city of Tanjavur was located on the southern bank of the Vadavaru river on the south-western edge of the fertile, agriculturally rich Kaveri delta. Gangaikondacholapuram, the other royal city, was located on the northern edge of the delta. A settlement called Tanjai existed in pre-Chola times, but it was transformed into a major royal and temple city during the reign of Rajaraja I (Champakalakshmi, 1996: 62–64). The Brihadishvara temple dominated the city and constituted its centre. The area around the temple formed the city’s inner circuit. This was where the political and priestly elites lived. Outside this was an outer residential circuit, which housed other urban groups such as merchants. There are references to four markets (angadis) in the city. The temple generated a demand for material such as milk, ghee and flowers, as well as services of various kinds such as those provided by priests, temple women, musicians, washermen, and watchmen. Special performances were staged in the temple on days marking the birth asterisms of members of the royal family. Apart from the king, members of the royal family made many gifts to the Brihadishvara temple. As mentioned earlier, some of its sculptural ornamentation and paintings were imbued with strong political meaning.

MAP 10.5 URBAN CENTRES IN TAMIL NADU, C. 1000 CE (AFTER CHAMPAKALAKSHMI, 1996)

The Brihadishvara temple was a major building project and may have taken 7 to 8 years to build. The temple drew many areas and groups into its economic web. Inscriptions state that over 600 employees were drawn from villages and towns in various parts of the Chola kingdom to serve in the temple. Revenue from many far-flung villages, including some in Sri Lanka, was assigned to it for its maintenance. The management of its financial resources was in the hands of Brahmana sabhas of several villages. Farmers, herdsmen, and artisans living around Tanjavur supplied many of its requirements.

Another example of a major urban complex of the period are Kudamukku and Palaiyarai, located adjacent to each other in the most fertile part of the Kaveri delta (Champakalakshmi, 1996: 331–55). Kudamukku represented a sacred centre, while the palace complex of the Cholas was located at Palaiyarai. The history of these twin settlements goes back to earlier times, but they came into prominence during the Chola period. Kudamukku was the site of many temples, and is mentioned in

bhakti songs of the Al-vars and Nayanars. Endowments by members of the royal family, officials, merchants, artisans, and others led to a steady growth of its temple establishments, especially the Nageshvara temple, which became the most prominent shrine. Kudamukku was an important point on the trade routes. It was a centre of betel nut and areca nut cultivation as well as an important centre of crafts such as metal work and textiles. A Chola mint was probably located here. The history of Palaiyarai goes back to the 7th century, but it came into prominence as an important administrative centre and as the residential capital of the Cholas. Both Kudamukku and Palaiyarai were knitted to their rural and coastal hinterlands through intricate ties.

The history of Madurai and Kanchipuram as political centres, centres of commodity production (especially cotton textiles), and religious activity goes back to the early historical period. In early medieval times, both of them grew in size and importance. Kanchipuram, a prominent centre of weaving and commerce, is mentioned in inscriptions and texts as a managaram (big city). It was initially connected to the port of Nirppeyyarru on the banks of the Palar river. Subsequently, Mamallapuram emerged as its major port outlet. There was a significant expansion in Kanchipuram’s hinterland through land grants and the growing web of the temple economy. Apart from its economic role, Kanchipuram also had an important cultural significance and was an important centre of Buddhism, Jainism, Vishnuism and Shivaism.

The urban developments of the early medieval period were reflected in caste organization. In Karnataka (Nandi, 2000: 158–80), there was the emergence of trading castes such as the Garvares. These were northern merchants who migrated southwards in the 10–11th centuries. Other occupational groups of this region that evolved into castes included the gaudas and heggades. The gaudas or gavundas were originally cultivators or village headmen, while the heggades were initially revenue officials. Apart from the kayasthas, another group of professional scribes known as the karanas also assumed the form of a caste.

FURTHER DISCUSSION

Weavers and weaving in early medieval Tamil Nadu

Vijaya Ramaswamy’s detailed study of the weavers of South India between the 10th and 17th centuries shows a match between the textile centres of that period and those of present times. The most important weaving communities in early medieval times in the Tamil Nadu area were the Saliyar and Kaikkolar. During the Chola period, the latter seem to have combined the vocations of weavers and soldiers. Weavers had their own residential sector in all towns. This was often located in the temple square, as was the case in Tanjavur.

The varieties of textiles and techniques used in cloth manufacture can be gleaned from literary and epigraphic sources. Muslins (known as sella) and chintz (known as vichitra) were much in demand. Vegetable dyes such as red safflower, indigo, and madder were used. Block printing seems to have been in vogue in South India from the 12th century onwards. Artisans used both vertical and horizontal looms, and the use of patterned looms seems to have begun in the 11th century.

The industry was well organized and textiles were important commodities both in internal and external trade. Weavers sold their goods at local fairs, but at the high er level, the textile trade was controlled by powerful merchant guilds. There is also evidence of weavers’ guilds known variously as samaya pattagara, saliya samayangal, and seniya pattagara. Ramaswamy refers to the mobility of some of the weaver castes within South India. These migrations may have taken place in the Vijayanagara period (15th–16th centuries), which saw a high point in the development of the weaving industry.

The Cholas actively encouraged the weaving industry in their kingdom and derived revenue from it. Inscriptions mention taxes such as the tari irai or tari kadamai (loom tax). Other dues included achchu tari (probably a tax on the patterned loom), tari pudavai (probably a tax on cloth), panjupeeli (a tax on cotton yarn), parutti kadamai (a tax on cotton), nulayam (a tax on cotton thread), and kaibanna or bannige (a tax on dyers). A tax called pattadai nulayam was levied on silk thread. On the other hand, there is evidence of the state announcing tax concessions and tax remissions for a specified period to weavers in new settlements in order to attract them. Kulottunga I was given the title Sungam tavirta Cholan (remover of customs duties). This alludes to his having abolished customs dues at ports in order to promote trade.

The increase in the socio-economic status of weavers and their involvement in temple honours and activities in early medieval South India are reflected in the many donations they made to temples. These took the form of money, livestock (cows, sheep), and shares of cloth or land. The gifts were aimed at defraying the cost of the building of shrines, making and installing images, the maintenance of perpetual lamps, providing woven cloth, and the celebration of festivals. Some donations were made as expiation for crimes. There is also evidence of weavers being given land by temples or village assemblies for services rendered by them.

Weavers invested money in land and were involved in money-lending as well. The Madras Museum copper plates of Uttama Chola state that the king deposited money with certain groups of weavers for the celebration of a festival at the temple of Uragam at Kanchipuram. Some weavers were also given managerial roles in the temple, including the management of finances and maintenance of accounts. In return for performing these important duties, they were declared exempt from taxes.

SOURCE Ramaswamy, 1985

A major development in early medieval South India was the emergence of a supra-caste dichotomy—the idangai (left hand) and valangai (right hand) caste groupings. The castes that were classified as belonging to the right-hand consisted mostly of agricultural groups. Those of the left hand comprised mostly artisanal and trading groups. Intially, these were not antagonistic groupings, but an element of conflict did emerge in later times.

TRADE AND TRADERS

Many trade routes intersected at ports on the eastern coast of South India. Mamallapuram developed under the Pallavas, and Nagapattinam became prominent in the Chola period. Kaveripattinam too was important, but less so compared to Nagapattinam from the 11th century onwards. Tiruppalaivanam and Mayilarppil were coastal towns that served the area to the north of Kanchipuram. Kovalam and Tiruvadandai were located to the north of Mamallapuram, while Sadras and Pudupattinam were located to its south. Other important coastal towns included Pallavapattinam, Cuddalore, and Tiruvendipuram. Corporate organizations of merchants played a leading role in fixing customs duties on goods in such port towns. Quilon (Kollam) was an important port town on the western coast, and there is inscriptional evidence of an agreement between the Manigramam guild, foreign traders, and the king regarding various issues such as taxes, warehouses, and the protection of merchants and their merchandise at this port.

The ports and market towns of South India were involved in a flourishing transit trade as well as direct trade with far-flung areas. The goods involved included both staples and luxury goods. Eleventh century inscriptions mention several commodities involved in trade transactions within the subcontinent—rice, pulses, sesame, salt, pepper, oil, cloth, betel leaf, areca nut, and metals. Twelfth century inscriptions mention a larger range of commodities including wheat and other foodgrains, pulses, groundnut, sesamum, jaggery, sugar, cotton, cumin, mustard, coriander, ginger, turmeric, elephants, and gems. A 12th century inscription found at Shikarpur (in Shimoga district, Karnataka) mentions merchants travelling along land and water routes with cargoes consisting of elephants, horses, sandalwood, camphor, musk, saffron, and precious and semi-precious gems such as moonstones, rubies, diamonds, pearls, lapis lazuli, onyx, topaz, and carbuncles. Inscriptions at Piranmalai (Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu) mention imports such as aloeswood, sandalwood, silk, rose water, camphor, oil, perfume, elephants, and horses. Many of these items were imported from Southeast Asia. Horses came from Arabia, silk from China, elephants from Myanmar, and rose water from West Asia.

THE STUPA AT BOROBUDUR, JAVA

MAP 10.6 PORTS AND CITIES IN INDIAN OCEAN TRADE NETWORKS, C. 600–1500 (AFTER CHAUDHURI, 1985)

The Chola kings promoted trade in various ways, including by setting up erivirappattanas. These were protected mercantile towns, which emerged as important centres of trade. Some of the Chola military expeditions—such as those to Sri Lanka in the 1080s and against ports in the Malaysian peninsula and Indonesian islands in 1025 and the 1070s—were probably more than looting expeditions and aimed at controlling important trade sectors. In the case of expeditions against Sri Lanka, apart from the fact that Mantai (Mannar) was an important entrepôt of maritime trade, an added incentive must have been the desire to control the pearl fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar.

The expanding contacts between South India and Southeast Asia are reflected in inscriptions and sculptures (Abraham, 1988: 29–31). The Tanjore inscription of Rajen-dra Chola I mentions a kingdom of Madamalingam, which can probably be identified with Tambralinga, not far from the Kra isthmus (this links Thailand and Malaysia), an important centre of maritime trade. An important route linked Takuapa to the Bay of Bandon. Hindu images dating from the 4th century onwards have been found in this area. Two Chola period images were discovered at Vieng Sra and a Surya image of the Chola style was found at Jaiya. A profusion of pottery and glass remains were discovered at Ko Kao

island, situated at the mouth of the Takuapa river. Many were from China, while some may possibly have been of West Asian and Indian origin.

THE 12TH CENTURY VISHNU TEMPLE, ANGKOR VAT, CAMBODIA, AN EXAMPLE OF CULTURAL INTERACTION BETWEEN INDIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA: VIEW OF TEMPLE

RELIEF SCENE FROM THE MAHABHARATA

APSARAS

There was reciprocal interaction between the elites of South, Southeast, and East Asia. The larger Leiden grant refers to the king of Shri Vijaya and Kadaram patronizing the building of a Buddhist monastery at Nagapattinam. Rajaraja also gave a generous land grant for the upkeep of this monastery. Inscriptions mention various gifts in favour of deities enshrined in temples of Nagapattinam on behalf of the kings of Shri Vijaya and Kadaram. The Khmer king sent a gift to Rajendra I. A trade mission was sent by Rajaraja Chola to China in 1015. Chinese sources mention four tribute-bearing missions sent by the Cholas to the court of the Song emperors between 1015 and 1077. They are described as bearing gifts of elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns, pearls, frankincense, rose water, putchuck, barus camphor, brocade, opaque glass, and plumflower. Out of these items that were in great demand in China, some were from India, others from West Asia.

J. C. van Leur’s ([1934], 1955: 133–37, 197–200) theory of the India–Southeast Asia trade being largely in the hands of small-time peddlers is contradicted by the evidence of the existence of powerful guilds in early medieval South India and incontrovertible evidence of their involvement not only in internal trade but also long-distance trade, especially with Southeast Asia. Corporate organizations of merchants became very prominent from the 10th century onwards. In inscriptions, they are referred to as samaya, which means an organization created through an agreement or contract. Members of such associations were governed by a code of conduct known as the bananju-dharma. One of the most powerful guilds was the Ayyavole (The Five Hundred), also known as the Ainnurruvar. This was originally established in Aihole in Karnataka and soon became the largest supra-regional association of merchants. The Manigramam was another important merchant guild located in the Tamil country, and was subordinated to the Ayyavole in the 13th century. The guilds were based on occupation and economic interest, and membership cut across lines of caste and religion. There were also links between merchant guilds and associations of craft specialists such as

weavers. The Anjuvannam was an association of foreign merchants who were intially involved in trade activities on the Kerala coast and later fanned out to other areas.

Most of the guild inscriptions have been found in South India, but some have also been found in Sri Lanka and East and Southeast Asia (Abraham, 1988: 29–33, 60). An inscription mentioning the Ayyavole was found at Padaviya in Sri Lanka. This gives a eulogy of the guild and lists its different component groups. A 1088 CE inscription of the same guild was found at Loboe Toewa in Sumatra. The Manigramam seems to have established a base at Takuapa in Thailand. This is evident from a 9th century inscription found near this place, along with some stone sculptures of Indian manufacture which seem to have been associated with a temple. The fact that the epigraph mentions armed protection extended over a tank suggests that the traders were accompanied by soldiers. The inscription invokes the title of the Pallava king and suggests the existence of an autonomous coastal settlement of Tamil traders here. In China, Quanzhou in Fujian province yielded over 300 Hindu images and artefacts, and a bilingual Tamil–Chinese inscription. This suggests the presence of a colony of Tamil merchants, perhaps members of a guild, in the 13th/14th century.

FURTHER DISCUSSION

Aihole and the Ayyavole

Inscriptions form a major source of information on the guilds of early medieval South India. Most of them are on stone, a few on copper plates. The stone inscriptions are often associated with temples and usually record donations made by guild members. A few refer to public services performed by them, or agreements between rulers and merchants regarding the setting up of mercantile townships. Guild inscriptions frequently include a prashasti of the guild, which throws light on its relationship with the state and other organizations, as well as the religious affiliations of guild members. Lists of commodities involved in trade are also often given.

Aihole, located on the banks of the Malaprabha river in the fertile Raichur doab in Bijapur district, Karnataka, is known for its magnificent Chalukya period temples. The Ayyavole guild seems to have originated in this town. It was probably founded by a group of Brah-mana mahajanas (traders) of this place in about the 8th century. The earliest inscription referring to this guild is found in the Lad Khan temple at Aihole. Several other Aihole inscriptions, ranging from the 8th to 12th centuries, mention it as well. The town of Aihole was also known by other names such as Ayyavole, Aryapura, and Ahichchhatra. Inscriptions refer to members of the Ayyavole guild as ‘ornaments on the brow of that great lady, the city of Ahichchhatra’, or as ‘the 500 svamis [lords] of the illustrious town of Ayyavole’. Inscriptional references to the Ayyavole range from the 8th/9th century to the late 17th century. During the early medieval period, against the background of expanding trade and urban settlements, the activities of this guild expanded.

Given the large area that the Ayyavole operated over (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, southern Andhra Pradesh, and parts of Kerala), one of the questions that arises is whether it functioned as a loose federation of units or whether it had a centralized organizational structure. Opinions on this issue

vary greatly. Meera Abraham suggests that the organization consisted of a sort of federation of units, each operating over fairly large areas.

The Ayyavole had close links with various ruling elites and enjoyed royal patronage. The Cholas had a close relationship with this guild. According to tradition, the Pandya kings invited the Nattukottai Chettiars, members of Ayyavole, to migrate from Kaveripattinam to their territory. The Ayyavole had links with other, smaller merchant associations such as the Valanjiyar, as well as close links with agraharas and agrahara Brahmanas.

SOURCE Abraham, 1988

As Chola power waned in the 12th century, the merchant guilds of South India became increasingly independent and less dependent on royal support. Trading caravans moved around with armed protection. Merchant guilds jointly fixed tolls and cesses, and made joint donations to temples along with the Chittirameli and Pandinen Vishaya, which were associations of agriculturists controlling the production and exchange of agricultural commodities.

The Religious Sphere

Religious developments in early medieval India show continuities with the preceding centuries and can be reconstructed on the basis of religious texts, inscriptions, architecture, and sculptural remains. At the level of popular worship, the focus was on devotional worship in temples and on pilgrimage. The Hindu cults, especially those associated with the worship of Vishnu, Shiva, and Shakti, became increasingly popular. The Tantric tradition became more visible and exerted its influence over Hindu, Buddhist and, to a lesser extent, Jaina traditions. While the Hindu cults were fairly widespread throughout the subcontinent, Buddhism and Jainism had a more restricted provenance. Jainism held sway in western India and Karnataka, while the strongholds of Buddhism were located in eastern India and Kashmir. The age-old naga cults still held their ground, as evident in the importance of the worship of Nilamata naga in Kashmir.

The relationship between different cults and sects was partly marked by interaction and a certain level of syncretism. For instance, the Jaina tirthankara Rishabha was turned into an avatara of Vishnu in the Bhagavata Purana. As already mentioned, certain Puranas include the Buddha among the incarnations of Vishnu. A verse in Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda refers to the Buddha as the ninth incarnation of Keshava (Vishnu). The Brihadishvara temple at Tanjore has a large image of a seated Buddha to the right of the main gateway, and the Buddha under a bodhi tree is depicted in some relief carvings around the temple. At the same time, the relationship between religious traditions and sects could also be marked by tensions and rivalry, an example of which is the hostility between Shaivas and Jainas in South India. Such antagonism was sometimes expressed in graphic iconic form, for instance in sculptures of deities trampling on their rivals.

Many early medieval sites show a juxtaposition of shrines belonging to different religious traditions. One of the most spectacular instances of this is at Ellora, in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. From the 6th century CE onwards, artisans began chiselling a series of Buddhist caves at the southern end of the basalt lava outcrop, as well as several Hindu caves and shrines at the

northern end. One of the most spectacular of the Ellora shrines is the Kailashanatha temple, built in the 8th–9th centuries. Jaina caves were added to the northern end at about this time. Similarly, at Badami (Bagalkot district, Karnataka), Vaishnava, Shaiva, and Jaina caves stand next to each other.

The early medieval period saw the advent of Islam on the subcontinent. Reference has been made to Arab merchants settled in various parts of western India. Epigraphic and textual evidence indicates that by the 13th century, the Muslim population in these ports and towns included not only Arab shipowners and traders, but also local oilmen and masons. Several inscriptions record the building of mosques by wealthy traders. The centuries after the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate saw a growth in the number of Muslims in the subcontinent.

Religious shrines derived patronage from various sections of society. The political patronage of certain temples, especially after the 10th century, led to the emergence of royal temples. Religious cults were an important aspect of emergent regional cultures. Religious identities also became more clearly defined during these and the subsequent centuries. For instance, David Lorenzen ([1999], 2006) has argued that a self-conscious Hindu identity emerged in the medieval period, during the period of interaction with Is-lam. As it is not possible to detail all the developments in the religious history of various parts of the subcontinent, a few of these developments are summarized below, followed by a closer look at Vaishnava and Shaiva bhakti in South India.

BUDDHISM IN EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA

Xuanzang noted many large, flourishing monasteries in the Magadha area, such as those of Nalanda, Tilodaka, and Bodh Gaya, but also mentioned many deserted or ruined monasteries elsewhere. The Chinese pilgrim spent over five years studying the Yogachara doctrine at Nalanda. Yijing visited Bodh Gaya and the monastery of Tilodaka, which he described as housing some 1,000 monks. Xuanzang offers a general description of the monasteries of the time. He mentions their skilful construction and refers to their having a three-storeyed tower at each side, profusely painted doors and windows, and low walls. The monks’ cells were plain outside and ornamented inside. There were large, high assembly halls in the middle of the building, storeyed chambers, and turrets of varying height, with doors facing eastwards. Textual sources and inscriptions indicate the location of monasteries of early medieval times, and archaeological remains of many of these have been identified.

PRIMARY SOURCES

A letter from Xuanzang to Prajnadeva

After Xuanzang returned to China, he busied himself translating Buddhist Sankrit texts into Chinese in the Tz’u-en monastery at Ch’ang an. During this period, he corresponded with some of the monks he had met in India. One of these was Prajnadeva, a senior monk belonging to the Mahabodhi monastery at Bodh Gaya. Prajnadeva had sent Xuanzang the text of a hymn composed by himself and a present of two rolls of cotton cloth. He had also asked the Chinese monk to let him know if he requried any copies of Buddhist texts. This is what Xuanzang wrote in reply, in

654 CE. (As the letter was in Chinese, someone in the Bodh Gaya monastery must have been equipped to translate it for the recipient.):

Bhikshu Xuanzang of the great T’ang empire begs to address this to the venerable Tripitaka-Master Prajnadeva of the Mahabodhi monastery:

Your Reverend, it has been quite long since we parted, which enhances my longing and admiration for you. The non-communication between us all the more leaves the thirst of the yearning unquenched.

Bhikshu Dharmadirgha arrived here with your very kind letter which brought me delight. There were also two rolls of fine cotton cloth and one fascile of a hymn. I feel rather embarrassed as my want of virtue does not deserve such kindness.

The weather is getting warmer now, and I do not know how you have been keeping since you last wrote.

I can imagine how you have assimilated the theories of all the schools, pondered over all volumes of the scriptures, hoisted the flag of the right dharma, led the swerving people to the correct path, and beat back the discordant preachers. You surely maintain your spirit in front of princes and nobles, and compliment or criticize at will in a galaxy of talented people. All this contributes to your highly pleasant demeanour.

As for me, my incapacity is compounded by the decline of vigour. This all the more increases my yearnings when I remember the virtue of Your Reverend.

During my sojourn in your country, I had the honour of meeting Your Reverend.

In the convocation at Kanyakubja, we also engaged in a debate and argued our respective viewpoints in the presence of the princes and thousands of devotees.

As one of us expounded the tenets of the Mahayana school, the other advocated the aims of Hinayana. In the course of debate, our arguments unavoidably got heated. In order to defend the truth, there was scant regard for personal feelings. Thus, there were clashes. But, as soon as the debate was over, we did not take each other amiss. Now, you have sent word through the messenger apologizing for the past. How scrupulous you are!

You, holy sir, are profound in scholarship, eloquent in speech, firm in belief, and superb in cultivation. You are [in excellence] greater than the expanse of the water in the Anavatapa lake, and purer than the purest mani [jewel]. Your Reverend set an example for emulation by the juniors, among whom Your Reverend stood like a giant.

I wish you all the best in your endeavour in promoting the noble tradition and disseminating the true dharma.

Mahayana Buddhism surpasses all other schools in its perfection in reasoning and in its meridian level in argument. It is regrettable that Your Reverend has reservations about it. It is like

preferring a sheep-drawn or deer-drawn cart to a bullock-drawn carriage, or preferring crystal to beryl. Enlightened as Your Reverend is, why such persistence in unbelief? Our mundane life is ephemeral. It is advisable that Your Reverend makes an early resolution to embrace Alamkaraka-saddharma [the Mahayana path] so that there is no regret at the end of life.

Now, there is a messenger returning to India, I send you my sincere regards and a little memento as a token of my gratitude. It is too inadequate to express my deep feelings for Your Reverend. I hope Your Reverend would appreciate this.

When I was returning from India, I lost a horse-load of scriptures in the river Sindhu. I attach herewith a list and request that they be sent to me. This much for the present.

Yours

Bhikshu Xuanzang

SOURCE Tan Chung, cited in Devahuti, 2001: 282

The Buddhist monasteries at Sanchi and Amaravati continued to flourish till the 12th–13th centuries. The Chachnama refers to Buddhism flourishing in Sindh in the north-west. In Kashmir, the Jayendra monastery at Shrinagara and the Raja monastery at Parihasapura declined by the 11th century, but the Ratnagupta monastery and Ratnarashmi monastery at Anupamapura flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries. The Palas of Bengal and Bihar were patrons of Buddhism. Various monasteries such as Nalanda, Odantapura (near Nalanda), Vikramashila (identified with Antichak in Bhagalpur district, Bihar), and Somapuri (located at Paharpur) flourished in their kingdom. There was active interaction between Tibetan monks and these centres. In Orissa, remains of early medieval Buddhist stupas, monasteries, and sculptures have been found at Lalitagiri and Ratnagiri. Several Buddhist viharas were built during this period in Nepal, as well as in Ladakh, Lahul, and Spiti. It was the Tantric form of Buddhism that flourished at most of the major monastic centres.

SPITI VALLEY (HP): KEY MONASTERY

TABO MONASTERY

CLAY STATUES IN ASSEMBLY HALL

ALCHI, LADAKH: PAINTING OF SHRINE

Buddhist images of the early medieval period show great variety in iconographic forms and testify to the popularity of devotional worship. The Bodhicharyavatara of Shantideva (8th century CE) describes the Mahayana rites of worship. These included bathing the image with scented water, offering food, flowers, and clothes, swinging censers, and burning incense, and the performance of vocal and instrumental music. Donative inscriptions of the Maitrakas of Valabhi refer to provisions made to cover the cost of incense, lamps, oil, and flowers (dhupa-dipa-taila-pushpa).

The early medieval period saw the ascendency of Tantric Buddhism, which combined ritual, magic, and meditation. The earliest texts of this tradition are the Manjushrimulakalpa and the Guhyasamaja (5th–6th centuries). Tantric Buddhism was known as Vajrayana (literally, the

Thunderbolt or Diamond vehicle). The thunderbolt and diamond both symbolized power and strength, characteristics of a person who had attained siddhi (enlightenment). The vajra-sceptre and bell were important elements in the ritual paraphernalia of Vajrayana. Another name for Tantric Buddhism was Mantrayana—vehicle of the mantras. Mantras were considered an important means to attain spiritual perfection. One of the most important ones was the six-syllable mantra described in the tradition as the hridaya (heart) of Avalokiteshvara: Om mani padme hum. Om and hum were sacred sounds. Mani padme literally means ‘jewel in the lotus’ or it may refer to a bodhisattva named Manipadma. Buddhist Tantra has complex symbolic interpretations of this mantra, which was believed to have great potency. Female deities had an important place in the Vajrayana pantheon. The most popular of these was Tara. The exponents of Tantric or esoteric Buddhism were known as Siddhas or Tantra-gurus. The 16th century Tibetan traveller gives an account of famous Siddhas.

The Hevajra Tantra advocates the attainment of liberation by using and sublimating sexual energy. Sexual yogic rituals were supposed to be performed at night in a cemetery with a low-caste girl, after drinking alcohol, and eating meat. The path of Sahajayana, taught by the mahasiddha Saraha, on the other hand, advocated neither rituals nor mantras. It emphasized instruction by a guru and held that it was possible to attain a liberated state while enjoying a worldly life. The Sahajiyas rejected obtuse philosophy and devotional worship, and attached prime importance to intuition in the attainment of salvation. This sect was especially influential in Bengal.

Buddhism did not completely disappear from the subcontinent, but it did decline and was relegated to the geographical, political, and cultural margins. Various factors have been suggested for this—the failure of Buddhism to maintain a distinct identity in relation to the Hindu cults, the ‘degeneration’ brought in by increasing Tantric influences, and a strident Hinduism represented by thinkers such as Shankara. The Turkish invasions led to the destruction of several major monastic centres, which formed easily identifiable targets. However, there is much about the history of Buddhism in early medieval India, especially the reasons for dwindling lay support and patronage, that remains obscure. It should also be noted that some of the monasteries that were established in Tibet and in the western Himalayas during these centuries have a continuous history right down to the present.

Some scholars have analysed the social aspects of Tantric or esoteric Buddhism. Miranda Shaw’s (1994) study of women in Tantric Buddhism, suggests that women and men are integral to the Tantric way, and that they are both seen as capable of creating non-exploitative, non-coercive, and mutually enlightening relationships, and as capable of attaining liberation together. This can be seen, for instance, in the image of the union of a male and female Buddha as a symbol of enlightenment, as well as in the powerful iconography of yoginis in Tantric iconography. Shaw argues that women played an important role in the creation of Tantric Buddhism and that they participated actively and fully in it as teachers, students, practitioners, and innovators. This seems a somewhat idealized view.

Ronald M. Davidson (2002) has tried to relate Tantric Buddhism to the broader patterns of political, social, and economic change in the early medieval period. Although his analysis is limited insofar as it takes the feudal paradigm and all its corollaries as a given, it does raise important issues about the social dimensions of esoteric Buddhism. David-son suggests a ‘samantization’ of the gods, in which deities, like kings, came to be organized into a hierarchy of supremacy and subordination. He also sees a political resonance in the fact that Tantric Buddhism had as its defining metaphor the individual achieving kingship and exercising dominion. The newer forms of Buddhism

had to grapple with the collapse of old sources of support and patronage and had to forge new social links. The siddhas evolved networks of political patronage and engaged with tribal and outcaste groups. Some monasteries grew into mahaviharas and became owners of large landed estates. Women’s participation—both at the monastic and lay level—declined sharply, something very apparent from the inscriptional silence from all over the subcontinent.

Tara

The bodhisattva Tara was known in earlier centuries, but became increasingly important in the early medieval period. The Manjushrimulakalpa lists her various names—Bhrikuti, Mamaki, Lochana, Shveta, Pandaravasini, and Sutara. Later texts speak of her many forms, of which the Green and White were the most popular. These are said to have been born from the tears of Avalokiteshvara when he saw the terrible conditions in hell. Tara is considered to have a great capacity to relieve people’s suffering.

The Mahapratyangira-dharani refers to her as the greatest deity. She is described as white in colour, wearing a garland of vajras around her neck, holding a vajra in her hand, and bearing the figure of Vairochana on her crown. Many Tara-stotras (Tara hymns) were composed from the 7th century CE. The 8th century Sragdhara-stotra describes her as one who gives strength to the weak and succour to those in distress, and as the saviour of all beings from sufferings of all kinds. Early medieval stotras elevate Tara to the position of a companion of Avalokiteshvara and mother of all the Buddhas, associating her with maitri (love) and karuna (compassion). In Tantric Buddhism, Tara came to be considered as the shakti (energy) of the Buddha, or as an emanation of one of the various Buddhas.

One of the most frequent iconic representations of Tara in northern and eastern India depicts her in a form known as Khadiravani Tara or Shyama Tara, considered to be an emanation of the Dhyani Buddha Amoghasiddha. She is shown standing or sitting gracefully, with her right hand in the boon-granting varadamudra, and holding a lotus with a long stalk in her left hand. She has two attendants—Ashokakanta Marichi to her right and Ekajata to her left. Eight miniature goddesses or scenes are sometimes shown to the left and right. Another form of Tara is Mahachina Tara or Ugra Tara, an emanation of Akshobhya. This is her terrifying form, in which she appears four armed, standing on a corpse. She holds a sword and chopper in her right hands, and a lotus and skull cap in her left.

MAJOR CENTRES OF JAINISM

Jainism was popular in parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka (Chatterjee, 1984). Xuanzang’s account suggests that the Digambara sect was more widespread than the Shvetambara sect. Jaina establishments received royal patronage from the Chapas of Gujarat and the Paramara kings. In peninsular India, some of the Gangas, Rashtrakutas, Eastern and Western Chalukyas, and Kadambas were patrons of Jaina scholars and establishments.

A large number of Jaina works were written in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhramsha, Kannada, and Tamil during this period. The great Jaina philosophers of the time included Akalanka, Haribhadra, and Vidyananda. Akalanka, author of the Tattvartharajavarttika, was a skilled logician, and seems to have lived in the 8th century. Haribhadra was also a logician, and his works include a commentary on Dinnaga’s Nyayapravesha. His Anekantajayapataka contains a refutation of Buddhist and Brahmanical doctrines. Vidyananda lived in the 9th century and belonged to Pataliputra. His works include the Aptamimam-salamkrita, which contains a detailed discussion of the principles of logic. The Adi Purana (8th century) of Jinasena and Gunabhadra listed and outlined a set of samskaras (life-cycle rituals) which were Brahmanical in form, but were endowed with distinct Jaina meaning. Echoing the prejudices of Brahmanical texts, the Adi Purana states that Shudras were not to be included in certain higher religious practices, including monkhood.

The colossal image of Gommateshvara at Shravana Belagola

Shravana Belagola, a small town in the Channarayapatna taluk of Hassan district in Karnataka is an important Jaina pilgrimage site. Its name derives from shramana, which means ‘ascetic’ in Sanskrit, and bela-kola which means ‘white tank’ in Kannada. The town lies between two rocky hills known as Chandragiri or Chikkabetta and Vindhyagiri or Indragiri (also known as Doddabetta).

The 37 Jaina temples at Shravana Belagola were built between the 8th and 18th centuries. A Jaina monastery here has 17th–18th century mural paintings on its wall. Over 500 inscriptions in this town speak of the history of the place. However, Shravana Belagola is best known for its colossal 17.5 m high monolithic statue of the saint Gommateshvara or Bahubali, which is said to be the tallest free-standing monolithic sculpture in the world.

In Jaina tradition, Gommata or Bahubali is the son of Adinatha, the first tirthankara. Tenth century inscriptions in Kannada, Tamil, and Marathi, engraved at the base of the image, tell us that it was made at the orders of Chamunda Raja or Chavunda Raya. Chamunda Raya was a minister of the Ganga king Rachamalla (Rajamalla), who ruled from 974 to 984 CE.

Bahubali’s statue, carved out of light-grey granite, can be seen on the top of the hill on which it stands from as far away as 10 km, but cannot be glimpsed from the base of that hill. The nude image is carved in the round up to the knees, at which point it merges into the matrix of the rock. The surface of the figure is highly polished. Bahubali stands erect in the Kayotsarga pose, with stiff, unbent arms and legs, the arms not touching the body. His feet are planted on a full-blown lotus. His taut, robust body has high, broad shoulders, a slim waist, and a broad pelvis. His hair is curly, his face broad, and his chin and nose well shaped. His body has the lakshanas (signs) of

a mahapurusha (great man) such as ears with long lobes and unusually long arms. Creepers entwining his arms and legs, and anthills rising up to his thighs, bear testimony to his extraordinary penance. His gaze is calm and resolute, and the subdued smile playing on his lips reflects his inner tranquility. Bahubali is flanked by the carving of a yaksha and yakshi.

The mahamastabhisheka or head anointment of Bahubali is performed every 12 years. On this occasion, devotees pour offerings including milk, flowers, and jewels over the head of the colossal image. The most recent mahamastabhisheka was held in 2006.

SOURCE Nagaraj, 1980

DETAILS OF THE DILWARA TEMPLE, MOUNT ABU

Jaina shrines of the early medieval period were located at various places in modern Uttar Pradesh including Deogarh and Mathura. The Digambaras were active in Samatata and Pundravardhana in

Bengal. Several places of Jaina pilgrimage were located in Rajasthan, including at Chittor. The Dilwara temples of Mount Abu are among the most spectacular Jaina temples of this period. The Jaina centres in Gujarat included Bhrigukachchha, Girnar, and Valabhi, which was famous for its temple of Chandraprabha and a temple dedicated to Mahavira. In central India, Jaina establishments existed at Sonagiri and Khajuraho. In western India, there were well-established Jaina centres at Nasik and Pratishthana. There are Jaina caves at Ellora. In Orissa, the Jaina establishments at Udayagiri and Khandagiri continued to flourish in the early medieval period.

Jainism had a strong presence in the Karnataka area. The Aihole inscription of Pulakeshin II begins with an invocation to Jinendra (lord of the jinas) and tells us that the poet Ravikirti was responsible for the building of the temple in whose wall the inscription is embedded. Jaina temples are located at Shravana Belagola, Koppana, and Halebid. Jaina inscriptions have also been found in various parts of Andhra Pradesh. Donative inscriptions belonging to the reigns of Pallava, Chola, and Pandya kings have been found in various parts of Tamil Nadu, and they contain the names of various Jaina saints. One who is mentioned frequently is Ajjanandi, who seems to have lived in Madurai in the 9th century. Other saints, who were probably his contemporaries or near contemporaries, include Indusena and Mallisena. Jaina inscriptions at places such as Shravana Belagola give long lists of pontifical succession stretching over many centuries. By the end of the early medieval period, Jainism retained a significant presence in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Karnataka.

SHANKARA AND ADVAITA VEDANTA

The early medieval period saw a great deal of philosophical writings related to the various darshanas. One of the most influential thinkers of the time was Shankara, who lived in the late 8th and early 9th centuries. It is difficult to separate historical detail from legend in Shankara’s hagiographies, all of which were composed after the 14th century (Pande [1994], 1998). One of the most popular of these is the Shankara-digvijaya of Madhava. This describes Shankara as travelling all over the country, meeting and debating with philosophical adversaries, defeating them all. Shankara was one of the most influential proponents of Vedanta. His version of Vedanta is known as Advaita Vedanta.

As mentioned in (< />)Chapter 8, the Upanishads form the last part—anta—of the Vedas. They, and the philosophies based on them, are therefore called Vedanta (sometimes referred to as Uttara Mimamsa). Mention was made in an earlier chapter of the various Vedanta philosophical systems based on the Upanishads, including Badarayana’s Brahma Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita. The earliest formal exposition of Advaita or non-dualistic Vedanta was put forward by Gaudapada in the 7th or 8th century in his Mandukyakarika, a verse commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad. Gaudapada was influenced by Madhyamika and Vijnanavada Buddhism. He held that worldly objects were similar to things seen in a dream. Reality is one (a-dvaita), and the idea of plurality is due to maya (illusion born out of ignorance).

Gaudapada’s ideas were developed further by Shankara, who tried to demonstrate that the Upanishads and Brahmasutras contained a systematic, unified philosophy. His major work is his bhashya (commentary) on the Brahma Sutra. According to Shankara, the performance of Vedic sacrifices was for people who wanted to attain material, worldly gains, but the Upanishads contained the way to supreme knowledge. In his monistic doctrine, brahman is the ultimate reality. It is without qualities (nirguna). It is pure consciousness, eternal and unchanging. All change and

plurality is only apparent. Shankara identified two levels of reality—conventional reality and absolute reality. An example he gave to illustrate this idea is that of a person looking at a coiled rope and thinking that it is a snake. The rope seems like a real snake, but it is not one. The reason for mistaking conventional reality for absolute reality is ignorance (avidya). The goal of Advaita Vedanta is liberation from the cycle of rebirth, which consists of the realization of the oneness of the atman with brahman.

Shankara’s vigorous espousal of a philosophy whose roots lay in the Vedic tradition is seen by some scholars as a key factor in the decline of Buddhism in India. On the other hand, it is interesting to note that his critics referred to him as a ‘hidden Buddhist’. This is because his treatment of the world as illusion struck them as rather similar to the ideas of the Mahayana schools. However, it should be noted that while defending his interpretation of the Upanishadic doctrine, Shankara also countered objections that could be raised against it by proponents of other schools, putting forward a strong critique of the viewpoints of Buddhist schools as well as other schools such as Samkhya, Nyaya, and Mimamsa.

Shankara is supposed to have founded the Dashanami sect and to have established four or five monasteries known as the Amanaya mathas (see Kulke [1993], 2001). Although it is clear that some sort of organization for preserving and propagating Shan-kara’s teaching emerged fairly early in the day, many historians have argued that the mathas (including those at Shringeri and Kanchi) seem to have been established several centuries later, and were attributed to Shankara in order to endow them with prestige. The Shringeri matha, for instance, seems to have been set up in the 14th century, during the Vijayanagara period.

THE HINDU CULTS

Although certain theistic tracts are ascribed to Shankara, Advaita Vedanta is not essentially a theistic philosophical system. At the level of popular practice, however, it was theistic worship that prevailed, and along with this, there was the development of a theology of bhakti. Within the Hindu tradition, although many deities (e.g., Surya, Ganesha, Karttikeya, and Brahma) formed the focus of devotional worship, it was the Vaishnava, Shaiva, and Shakta cults that were the most popular. There was an increase in the number and geographical spread of temples during this period. Temple sculptures show great variety in the forms of representation of deities, as well as a pan-Indian systemization of iconic forms. Sectarian epithets became common in royal inscriptions, kings patronized the building of temples, and certain temples became closely identified with their royal patrons. However, royal patronage was neither the only nor the most important source of patronage. As in earlier centuries, there were many groups of non-royal people who offered donations to religious establishments.

Although at one level, deities like Vishnu, Shiva, and Shakti formed the focus of exclusive worship of devotees who considered them supreme deities, at another level, they were also part of a larger community of gods. Monolatory—a belief in a supreme god without denying the existence of other gods—is an important aspect of Hinduism. This is why, apart from representations of the presiding deity, Hindu temples often depict various other deities as well.

VISHNUISM AND SHIVAISM

Textual evidence and temple sculpture indicate that the idea of the ten incarnations of Vishnu was more or less standarized in the early medieval period. Pancharatra texts expanded on the idea of the vyuhas (emanations) of Vishnu, and the number of vyuhas increased from 4 to 24. Some aspects of Vaishnava theology were discussed in (< />)Chapter 9, and others will be discussed later on in the section on South Indian bhakti.

The divine cowherd Krishna emerged as a major focus of devotional worship within Vishnuism. The Harivamsha, a supplement to the Mahabharata, describes the many legends associated with Krishna’s childhood and youth. The Bhagavata Purana is another important Vaishnava text. It seems to have been composed in South India in the 9th–10th centuries. Book 10 of this Purana is the Krishna-charita, which gives a detailed account of Krishna’s life—his birth and his childhood with his foster-parents Nanda and Yashodha; his cowherd life in Braja and his miraculous exploits such as killing Putana and overcoming the serpent Kaliya; and his relationship with the gopis (cowherd girls). The text speaks in particular of one gopi whom Krishna desires especially, but does not mention her name. In Krishna bhakti, the love of the gopis for Krishna, their longing for him, and their grief at their separation from him, is used as a metaphor for the relationship between devotee and god.

‘DURGA’ TEMPLE, AIHOLE: SHIVA WITH NANDI BULL

VARAHA LIFTING PRITHVI

There are stray references to a Radha in earlier texts such as the Matsya, Varaha, and Linga Puranas. She is not mentioned directly in the Harivamsha, or in the Vishnu and Bhagavata Puranas. It was Jayadeva’s celebrated 12th century lyric poem, the Gita-Govinda that brought Radha into the limelight. This work is known for its high literary quality and powerful eroticism. The theme of the love between Radha and Krishna was elaborated on in a later Purana, the Brahmavaivarta Purana.

The ‘Durga’ temple at Aihole

The ‘Durga temple’ at Aihole is named after a nearby fort, and is not dedicated to the goddess Durga. It was probaby built in about 725–30 CE, during the reign of the Chalukya king Vijayaditya. The temple is apsidal in form and has an ambulatory passage running along the entire outer side of the apse. The mandapa (hall) and verandah are basically in the Dravida style, while the shikhara is a variety of the Nagara style. The small sanctum with a rounded back has a raised circular altar. The image of the presiding deity was removed at some point, it is not known when.

The Durga temple is an enigmatic structure. The issues that scholars have grappled with include the place of this temple within the larger history of temple architecture, whether the shikhara was part of the original structure or whether it was added later to an originally flat- roofed shrine; and whether the sculptures in the circumambulatory passage were original or later additions.

The biggest mystery, however, concerns the deity to whom this temple was dedicated. Over the years, it has been variously connected with Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, and Aditya (Surya). It has also been argued that it was a Buddhist shrine, taken over at some point by the Shaivas. This view, which is not longer accepted, was based on the erroneous belief that the apsidal architectural form was associated exclusively with Buddhism. In actual fact, this form was used in the religious architecture of the Ajivikas, Jainas, and the Hindu cults.

The pradakshina-patha (circumambulatory passage) of the temple consists of a verandah gallery running all around the shrine. The outer rim of this gallery is formed by a parapet and 28 square pillars, letting in plenty of air and light. On the inner wall of this gallery are 11 wall niches, separated by pilasters. These niches frame a series of relief sculptures, only seven of which have

survived. These reliefs are considered among the sculptural masterpieces of the Chalukya period. The themes of these sculptures are: Shiva with Nandi; Vishnu in his man-lion Narasimha avatara; Vishnu on garuda; Vishnu in his boar incarnation; Durga Mahishasuramardini; and Hari-Hara (the combination of Vishnu and Shiva). One of the empty niches once contained an image of Shiva as Bhikshatana.

The sheer variety of the sculptures makes it difficult to identify the cultic affiliations of the temple. Shaiva temples of this region usually depict a variety of deities, but have a Nandi mandapa (a pavilion enshrining the Nandi bull), which is absent here. Therefore, it does not seem to be a Shiva temple. As its sculptural programme does not privilege the goddess, it does not seem to be a goddess temple. Vishnu temples of this region and period tend to have exclusively Vaishnava sculptural themes, so this was not a Vishnu temple. The view among many art historians today is that the Durga temple was dedicated to Aditya (Surya). There is an image of this deity above the entrance, and a gateway inscription refers to it as a temple of Aditya. Several representations of the sun god have been found elsewere on the structure as well. However, even if it can be understood as a Surya temple, in many respects, the form and style of the Durga temple at Aihole remain unique.

SOURCE Tartakov, 1997

Sculptural representations of the various avataras of Vishnu have been found in many parts of the subcontinent. The goddesses Lakshmi, Sarasvati, and Bhudevi are often associated with him. Vaishnava devotionalism acquired a strong expression in South India in the hymns of the Alvars, which will be discussed later. Many Vaishnava temples and sculptures are attributed to the early medieval period.

The increasing popularity of the worship of Shiva was accompanied by the development of various Shaiva philosophical schools, whose ideas show considerable overlap. The Agamas are considered authoritative texts by followers of Shaiva Siddhanta, Kashmir Shivaism, and the Virashaiva tradition. They are considered as containing the words of Shiva himself and are supposed to be taught only to select initiates. These Agamas seem to have been composed in the Tamil-speaking area between c. 400 and 800 CE. Although they recognize the importance of knowledge (jnana), ritual (kriya), and yogic practice and conduct (charya), they attach prime importance to bhakti. Recognizing the authority of the Vedic tradition, they nevertheless consider Shaiva bhakti as superior to the performance of Vedic sacrifices. The rituals prescribed for performance at home and in temples are supposed to be performed with Shaiva mantras, although they also include some Vedic mantras. The texts also discuss the making of religious images and the construction of temples.

Shaiva Siddhanta was a major Shaiva philosophical school in South India. It recognized three eternal principles—God (Shiva), the universe, and souls. Shiva was considered to have created the world through his will and energy (shakti). Shaiva Siddhanta accepts the authority of the Vedas, Agamas, and the hymns of the saints, but interprets the Vedic tradition through the perpective of Shaiva bhakti.

VARAHA SCULPTURE FROM LALITAPUR, 10TH/11TH CENTURY

The influential Kashmir Shaiva school was associated with a monistic or non-dualistic philosophy, according to which the atman (individual soul) and the world were identical with Shiva. The universe was considered a manifestation created by Shiva through his creative power, and is compared to a reflection of a city or village in a mirror. Shakti is considered the feminine aspect of the god. The ideas of the Kashmir Shaiva school are contained in the Shivasutras, which, according to tradition, were revealed by the god himself to a sage named Vasugupta, who can be placed in the 8th–9th centuries. His pupils Kallata and Somananda further elaborated on the philosphical doctrines. Other leading figures of the school include Abhinavagupta, Utpala, and Ramakantha.

The Kapalikas and Kalamukhas were two important Shaiva sects of the time. No texts of these sects have survived, and their history has to be reconstructed on the basis of inscriptions and highly negative references to them in the texts of their adversaries. These sects had monasteries (mathas) and well-organized priesthoods. Lorenzen’s ([1972], 1991) study of these orders shows that although they had their distinct monastic groups, they did not have separate laities. The Kapalikas were Tantric Shaivite ascetics who lived in the forest. They carried a skull bowl for begging and were associated with a mahavrata or great vow. They are described as performing penances, animal and human sacrifice, and sometimes practising self-mutilation. The Kalamukhas seem to have been an offshoot of the Pashupatas, and were especially active in the Karnataka area between the 11th and 14th centuries. There are many inscriptions recording gifts to temples and mathas of this sect. The

inscriptional references to various Shaiva sects in early medieval India have been discussed by V. S. Pathak (1960).

Shaiva bhakti became extremely popular in South India due to the ideas and activities of the Nayanmar saints, which will be discussed in a later section of this chapter. Aspects of Shaiva sculpture and architecture too are discussed in a later section.

THE SHAKTI CULT

Mention was made in (< />)Chapter 8 to the Devi-Mahatmya, which was inserted into the Markandeya Purana by about the 7th century. This contains verses in praise of the Devi (goddess) and speaks of her many exploits, including how she vanquished the demon Mahishasura. The stories narrated in the Devi-Mahatmya are accompanied by verses in which the gods praise her in various ways. The Narayani-stuti speaks of her Vaishnavi-shakti sustaining the entire universe. It refers to her nine Matrika forms, and to her other manifestations as Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Narayani, Katyayani, Durga, Bhadrakali, and Ambika. In the last 14 verses of the Devi-Mahatmya, the goddess declares her future manifestations in different ages—as Yogamaya (daughter of Nanda and Yashoda), Raktadantika, Shatakshi, Shakambhari, Durga, Bhima, and Bhramari. In the last canto, in a promise reminiscent of the Bhagavad Gita, she announces that she will appear from time to time in the world, in order to destroy demons and evil.

FURTHER DISCUSSION

The Goddess as killer of the demon Mahisha

The 700 verses of the Durga-saptashati in the Markandeya Purana praise the goddess and narrate her many victories. In one place, the goddess is said to have briskly jumped onto the body of the buffalo demon Mahisha, pressed him down with one leg, and thrust her spear into his neck. In this aspect, she is known as Durga Mahishasuramardini (Durga, slayer of the demon Mahisha). The basic iconography of Durga Mahishasuramardini, which is in fact the most frequently depicted form of the goddess in sculpture, was fixed in the early centuries CE. However, within the broad iconographic parameters, ancient crafts people made choices in terms of detail and portrayal, and their individual creations often carried a distinctive stamp. Some of the most impressive sculptural representations of Durga Mahishasuramardini were made by sculptors of the early medieval period.

Sculptural depictions of the goddess show some variations on the basic theme. The number of arms varies; the lion sometimes appears as her mount, at other times by her side. In some places, the buffalo demon is shown as an animal, in others as part man, part animal. In some representations, the image of the goddess captures and conveys strength and vigour. At other places, the sculptor man aged to simultaneously convey gracefulness and femininity.

One of the most impressive representations of Durga Mahishasuramardini is located in a niche in the Virupaksha temple at Aihole. The carving is very deep, almost but not quite in the round, giving it a three-dimensional effect. The demon is depicted as a human with buffalo horns. His

head is pressed down under the the goddess’ left foot. Her arms are arranged in a rhythmic pattern. Her sword effortlessly cleaves the demon’s body. The sculptor managed to create an image that is at once exceptionally graceful, realistic, and powerful.

Architectural and sculptural remains from various parts of the subcontinent reflect the widespread worship of Durga, as well as the allied cults of the Matrikas (usually mentioned as seven or eight in number) and the Yoginis (Bhattacharyya, 1974: 100–05). The Matrikas were mentioned in (< />)Chapter 9. The Yoginis, eventually reckoned as 64 in number, are described in texts as attendants or manifestations of Durga in her battle against the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha. The principal Yoginis were identified with the Matrikas. Multi-armed Durga images of this period occur in large numbers, especially in eastern India. They also occur in the Tamil Nadu area, where an iconographic peculiarity is the association of the goddess with a stag. Representations of the goddess as Nishumbhamardini (slayer of the demon Nishumbha) occur among the reliefs at many temples belonging to the Chola period. The worship of the Sapta-Matrikas and Yoginis was also popular in eastern India. In Orissa, several Matrika images have been found in and near Jajpur (among other areas), and hypaethral (roofless) temples of the Yoginis occur at Ranipur Jharial and Hirapur.

The inscriptions of early medieval India refer to many local goddesses. For instance, those of Orissa mention Viraja and Stambheshvari, and those of Assam mention Kamakhya. The Puranic tradition wove the many goddess cults together by developing the idea that the various local goddesses were manifestations of one great goddess, the great Devi. Kunal Chakrabarti (2001) has demonstrated how in Bengal, the encounter between Brahmanism and a strong tradition of the worship of autonomous goddesses resulted in a regional cultural synthesis which gave primacy to goddess worship. The Matsya Purana gives a list of 108 names of the great goddess, while the Kurma Purana invokes her with 1,000 names.

The Kalika Purana is an important Shakta text belonging to the early medieval period (van Kooij, 1972). Composed in the area of Assam or in some adjoining part of Bengal, it reflects the diverse forms of the worship of Devi. The goddess is described as having both a benign and a terrifying form. In her shanta (calm) form, she has a strongly erotic character. In her raudra (fierce) manifestation, she is best worshipped in a cremation ground. The Kalika Purana describes the dakshina-bhava (the right method) and the vama-bhava (the left method) of worship. Although both have a Tantric imprint, it is stronger in the latter. The ‘right method’ consists of various regular rites and rituals which include animal and human sacrifice. The ‘left method’ includes rituals involving the use of alcohol, meat, and sexual rites. The Purana also contains details of the performance of the popular festival of Durga Puja.

YOGINI TEMPLE, DUDHAI, LALITPUR

CHAUNSAT YOGINI TEMPLE, KHAJURAHO

SAPTA-MATRIKA SCULPTURE (NATIONAL MUSEUM)

MAHISHASURAMARDINI: SIVADOL TEMPLE, SIBSAGAR

VIRUPAKSHA TEMPLE, PATTADAKAL

NATARAJA TEMPLE, CHIDAMBARAM

The Puranas mention various sacred places associated with the different manifestations of Devi (Sircar, 1973, Bhattacharyya, 1974). The Devi Bhagvata refers to such places as pithas. The Kalika

Purana mentions seven pithas, associated with places where the dismembered pieces of Sati’s body are supposed to have fallen. These were located at Purnagiri, Devikuta, Uddiyana, Kamagiri, the eastern point of Kamarupa, the western point of Kamarupa, and Jalandhar. The number of pithas increased subsequently and this reflects a dramatic expansion in the sacred geography associated with the goddess. The Kularnava Tantra mentions 18 pithas, while the Kubjika Tantra mentions 42. Pilgrimages to Shakta pithas were well established in the early medieval period.