UNIT CHANGES ECONOMY

Structure
Objectives
Introduction
Explaining the Economic Changes
Decline of Trade
Paucity of Coins
Decline of Towns
Agrarian Expansion
36.6.1 Advances in Agricultural knowledge and Technology
36.6.2 Crops and Plants
Rural Settlements
New Pattern of Agrarian Relations
36.8.1 Obligations of the Peasants
36.8.2 Feudal Land Tenure
36.8.3 Growth of Closed Fkonomy
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words
Answer to Check Your Progress Exercises
3 6. 0 OBJECTIVES
In this Unit our intention is to give you an idea of the economic changes in the Gupta and
especially post-Gupta times. We shall thus discuss one major aspect of the transition to
early medieval India. After reading this unit you should be able to understand:
the origin and economic implicatioqs of landgrants,
the process and consequences of the gradual decline of cities and other urban settlements,
the nature of villages and of village economy,
the nature of agrarian relations, and
changes which led to improvements in agricultural production.
3 6. 1 INTRODUCTION
The Gupta and post-Gupta period was characterised by certain changes in Indian economy.
We have already mentioned in Block 8 (Unit 33) that trade and urban settlements, which were
so much prominent features of Indian society started declining from the Gupta period onward.
There are many indications of these changes :
1) Many important cities (such as Taxila, Kausarnbi, Pataliputra) ceased to exist after the
Gupta period. This decline of urban settlements was not an isolated phenomenon ; it
seems to have been quite widesperad;
2)
Trade activities also suffered a setback because of various reasons. This is perhaps most
clear from the fact that minting and circulation of coins were on a much more limited
scale than before.
Details of these changes will be taken up for discussion later.
It may be noted that many of these changes had begun in the Gupta period itself. The decline
of towns did not mean the overall contraction of the economy. However, let it be admitted
that the economy, instead of walking on two legs - agriculture and urban activities of crafts
production and trade - began to walk on one leg. It was predominantly agrarian economy.
~r3nsi t i on to Early
#dieVal lndia
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3 6. 2 EXPLAINING THE ECONOMIC CHANGES
--- - - - - - - - - - - -- --
How does one explain these changes ? According to the assessment of some historians the
crucial element in the chain of developments was the system of landgrants. Landgrants grew
in number in the Gupta and especially post-Gupta times and became widespread throughout
the country. Laridgrants were made to brahmanns and religious establishments like temples
and monasteries on a large scale by kings. chiefs, members of thc royal family and their
feudatories. Earlier the Satavahunas i n the Dcccan had given away only revenue rights. From
the fifth century onwards not only were thc revenues of the donated lands transferred to the
donee but the mines and minerals in the said area also transferred. The donated land, village
or villages were exempted from the interference of soldiers and royal officials. Finally, kings
and princes made over to the brahmana donees even the right to punish all offences against
family, private property and person, with the privilege to enjoy the fines thus received.
The frequency of grants to different categories of officials for their services to the state was
much less than the religious grants. Contemporary Dharmasastra literature recommended
the grant of land or of revenues therefrom to state officials, in lieu of their salary. However,
the actual evidence for such non-religious grants are not many in the period under discussion.
Their numbers increased in subsequent times, i.e. 9-10th centuries. These grants were
accompanied by concessions and rights similar to those mentioned in the religious grants to
brahmanas, temples and monasteries.
I
Among other things, landgrants also had a bearing on the question of land rights, the socio-
economic conditions of the peasantry, the right to free enterprise of craftsmen and traders in
the donated towns and the emergence of a relatively closed economy. The residents of
donated villages and towns were asked to comply with the order of the beneficiary, besides
making over the various kinds of payments. Two forged charters of the 7th century, ascribed
to Samudragupta, prohibit tax-paying peasants and artisans from leaving their own villages
and settling in tax-free villages. The practice of transferring peasants along with the land, to
the advantage of the donee. began in Central India, Orissa and Gujarat in the sixth century
and was fairly common i n several parts of India around the eighth century. Moreover,
artisans and merchants too were tied down to their habitations to serve the local clientele and
masters. In the Deccan and South lndia artisans were made over to the temples and
monasteries. tiiuen Tsan;> also provides evidence for such donations. The condition of the
merchants was in no way better. A few charters of the 6th-8th centuries from the western
Deccan refer to restriction3 undcr which merchants were required to function.
The attachment of peasants, artisans and merchants to their respective settlements and
restrictions on their movements created an atmosphere of which the emergence of a closed
economy was the natural result.
DECLINE OF TRADE
One of the conspicuous economic changes i n the Gupta and post-Gupta period was the
decline of trade. both internal and external. Indian foreign trade registered a peak during the
post-Mauryan period, when lndia traded with the Roman empire. Central Asia and South-
East Asia. However. commercial decline set in during the Gupta period, and it became more
pronounced hy the middle of the sixth century A.D. The inflow of Roman coins into India
stopped after the early centuries of the Christian era. Other evidences suggesting contact with
the western world are also absent. Further, the Roman empire itself broke up at a later date.
The emergence of the Arabs and the Persians as competitors in trade did not augur well for
lndian merchants. Some Byzantine coins ranging up to the sixth century, have been found i n
Andhra and Karnataka. But numerically they cannot be compared to the rich hoards of the
early Roman coins. Silk and spices were important items in the Indo-Byzantine trade. The
Byzantium, however, learnt the art of growing silk worms i n the middle of the sixth century
A.D. Consequently the silk trade was badly affected. The migration of silk weavers from
Gujarat and their taking to other vocations acquires meaning in this context. Gupta ties with
Central Asia were also weak. Whatever little remained of the contacts with Central Asia and
Western Asia were completely wiped off by the Huna invasions.
It is said that the coastal towns of India carried on some trade with countries of South-East
Asia and China. However, this interaction does not appear to have been of any intense kind.
There is evidence for the spread of many cultural influences from India to South-East Asia in
early historical and early medieval times but there is no evidence of pottery, coins or other
objects of this kind on eithel ,de to suggest robust commercial interactions. Earlier, India
had carried on trade in beads and some other items with some areas of South-East Asia, but
after the fourth century A.D. there is no evidence for such trade. Not much can be made out
of the Indian delegations to China. The number of such missions registered a declining trend
from the sixth century onwards. Besides, the reported Chinese coins and celadon ware from
Tamil Nadu are placed in the ninth century or later, and prior to that we have no other
material remains to suggest any kind of Indo-Chinese trade.
I
Decline of trade was just not limited to foreign trade. Long distance internal trade too suffered
owing to the weakening of links between coastal towns and the interior towns and further
between towns and villages. The decay of towns and shrinkage in urban commodity
production and the decline of trade were related problems. The decline of the status of traders
I
and merchants in society dunng this period also indicates the falling fortunes of trade and
commerce. The rise of numerous self-sufficient units dominated by landed beneficiaries also
had adverse effect on trade. In fact, the Kathasaritasagara, a later work, suggests that
traders moved through forests to avoid the multiple payment of duties. Sea voyages and
long-distance travels were taboo. Such attitudes surely did not promote the cause of trade.
This, however, is not to deny that trade in basic necessities such as salt, iron artefacts etc.
continued.
These essential commodities are not available everywhere. Moreover, some long-distance
trade went on in prestigious. expensive luxury goods such as precious stones, ivory and
horses. There was a demand for such commodities among the aristocracy, chiefs and kings. It
thus seems that for quite a few centuries large-scale, organised trade was replaced by itinerant
petty traders, pedlars and trickle trade.
.. .
36. 4 PAUCITY OF COINS
Decline of commerce is demonstrated by the paucity of coins in the post-Gupta period. Gold
coins which were so abundant during the periods of the Kushanas and of the Guptas went out
of circulation after the sixth century. The absence of silver and copper coins also attracts
attention. It may be mentioned that the percentage of gold in the Gupta gold coins was
constantly falling and that the gold content of the later Gupta coins was only half of that of
the Kushana coins. Further, in terms of quantity the coinage of the Gupta period does not
compare well with those of the early Christian centuries. The epigraphic references to coins
during this period do not amount to much in the absence of actual finds. The coins of
Harshavardhana are too meagre and the Rastrakutas and the Palas who came to power in the
Deccan and Bengal respectively, in the eighth century, issued no coins. Metallic currency
was absent in most parts of northern India, Bengal, Orissa, Central India and the Deccan.
What was true of these regions also holds good for South India. Various studies also indicate
the almost total absence of coin moulds and commercial seals in the said period. However,
in contrast to the general situation in most parts of the country, the Punjab region and
north western part of the subcontinent has yielded numerous coins up to 1000 A.D. Besides,
coin finds have also been reported from Kashmir.
It has been argued by some historians that earlier coins served the purpose of currency in
later period and rendered the issue of fresh coins unnecessary. However, the period under
discussion was characterised by unprecedented agrarian expansion and this alone would have
normally necessitated more metallic money. Further, coins were an expression of
sovereignty. Unless the compulsions were serious enough no ruler would have willingly
forgone the privilege of minting coins in his own name. The decline of trade and the grant of
land to high functionaries in lieu of money payments did away with the need for coins.
Moreover, there is evidence for barter and the use of cowries as a medium of exchange in
daily transactions.
Changes in Economy
Transition to Early
Medieval India
pp-~~p
36. 5 DECLINE OF TOWNS
Decline in trade, paucity of coins and absence of coin moulds and commercial seals indicate
economic decline and fall in demand for finished products. Towns which were active centres
of craft production in the post-Mauryan period experienced decay and desertion. The pre-
Kushana and Kushana towns in northern India and those associated with the Satavahanas in
the Deccan began to decay from the middle of the third or the fourth century. What was true
of northern India, Malwa and the Deccan was equally true of southern India. Actually, urban
decline took place in two phases. The first coincided with the rise of the Guptas. During this
period sites such as Sanghol, Hastinapur, Atranjikhera, Mathura, Sonkh, Sravasti,
Kausambi, Khairadih, Chirand, Tamluk, etc., in the Upper and Middle Gangetic plains
experienced decline. Early prosperous centres such as Ujjain, Nagar, Pauni, Ter, Bhokardan,
Nasik, Paithan etc., spread over Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra
witnessed similar trends. Arikarnedu in Tamil Nadu and the Satavahana urban centres in
Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were no exception to this phenomenon. The habitational -
deposits of the fourth-sixth centuries at all such sites are thinner compared to those of the
earlier centuries and yield poorer and lesser material remains. The Gupta layers at many sites
exhibit the reuse of raw materials, like bricks, from earlier deposits. The spatial spread of
urban centres and the available civil amenities were nowhere near what it was earlier during
the Kushana period. Numerically, very few sites like Pataliputra, Vaishali, Varanasi and
Bhita survived the first phase of decay. These towns were in the heartland of the Gupta state
and that possibly accounts for their survival. The second phase of urban decay set in after the
sixth century and these centres ceased to be towns thereafter.
In a situation of general decline of crafts and commodity manufacture, the making of stone
beads, manufacture of shell objects and of ivory and glass objects registered overall collapse.
These objects are very scantily found in post-fifth century habitational deposits. Post-Gupta
pottery likewise shows no artistic skill and is largely of ordinary variety.
The decline of towns and cities is reflected in contemporary literature and inscriptions as
well. Up to the sixth century inscriptions and seals refer to the importance of artisans,
craftsmen and merchants in the life of the towns. Inscriptions from Bengal suggest that they
played an important role in urban administration. However, after the sixth century such
information is not forthcoming. The change in the meaning of certain terms in the post-
Gupta times also indicates the changing conditions. For example, the term Sreni which
stood for guilds came also to mean caste and the term nigama came to mean villages.
Varahamihira's Brihat Samhita, a work belonging to the first half of the sixth century,
speaks of the decline of crafts, towns and trade. The decline of Buddhist towns in northern
India is attested by the account of Hiuen Tsang who visited India during the time of
Harshavardhana. Unlike the robust urban life so vividly depicted in Vatsayana's
Kamasutra, post-Gupta literature such as the Kuttanimatam of Damodaragupta (7th
century) is concerned with life in the countryside.
All settlements, however, were not rural. In the post-Gupta period non-agriculturist
settlements appeared as seats of administration, military garrisons and religious or
pilgrimage centres. Military camps are referred to as skandhavara in inscriptions of the
fifth-eighth centuries. There .is evidence to suggest that certain towns continued to survive as
a result of their conversion to centres of pilgrimage. All these non-agriculturist settlements,
variously known as pura, pattana, nagara and rajadhani, were centres of consumption
and not production.
Check Your Progress 1
1)
Discuss in about 10 lines the factors responsible for the decline of trade.
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2)
Which of the following statements are right t J) and wrong
i,
The paucity of coins does not demonstrate a decline in Commerce during the ~ ~ ~ ~ - ~ ~ p ~ ~
period.
ii) me post-~upta period witnessed a decline of urban settlements.
iii) The number of landgrants to relig~ons estabbshments Increased during the ~ ~ ~ ~ - ~ ~ p ~ ~
period.
iv)
some regions, there stafied a practice transfemng peasants along with the land to the
donees.
me coastal terms of India had no trade links with the countries of South-East Asia.
I
I
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3 6. 6 AGRARIAN EXPANSION
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The epigraphic evidence that we have for the Gupta and post-Gupta t~mes suggests agrarian
growth and rural expansion on an unprecedented scale. The patronage extended by kings,
princes and chiefs to agriculture, improvement in irrigational facilities, increasing knowledge
of agricultural sciences etc. were some of the causative factors whlch strengthened rural
economy.
Decline of towns may have led to the migration of a number of skilled artisans into the
countryside. Some of them even changed their vocations. The dispersal of technical skill
along with artisans and craftsmen into the countryside stimulated agrarian growth.
Landgrants in tribal frontiers brought virgin land under cultivation.
About fifty ruling powers were in existence in the fifth to the seventh centuries, in the
Deccan and Central India. They were spread over Maharashtra, eastern Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra, Orissa and Bengal. The various new ruling dynasties In this region issued their own
landgrants which indicate the existence of officials, armymen etc. in their kingdoms. Each of
these states depended on revenues from land and agriculture. In fact, in post-Gupta times
agriculture constituted the basis of the state. Thus, the rise of states in such areas in which
states were absent earlier presupposes agrarian expansion and the spread of village economy.
Numerous villages with Sanskritic and non-Sanskritic names came up in this period.
Contemporary literature presents, a vivid account of village life and reflect the richness of
rural settlements. The Skanda Purana mentions numerous villages region-wise.
Similarly, texts belonging to a later period deal with the establishment and spread of rural
settlements in western and southern India. The landgrant charters themselves record
innumerable village names in post-Gupta times. These Include names of older settlements.
However, new ones too emerged on a large scale. We come across village names not only
when such villages were donated but also when other villages were mentioned as boundaries
of donated villages.
3 6. 6. 1 Advances in Agricultural Knowledge and Technology
The increasing concern with agriculture can be seen in the detailed instructions regarding
agriculture in the Brihat Samhita, Agni Purana, Vishnudharmottara Purana and
Krishiparasara. The importance of manure for crop cultivation is clearly laid down in the
Harshacharita. It is mentioned that cowdung and refuge were used for manuring the fields.
The Harshacharita also speaks about different types of cultivation - plough cultivation,
spade cultivation and slash and bum cultivation. The attention paid to agriculture by rulers
and landed beneficiaries can also be seen in the detailed descriptions of the plough and the
improvement in imgation techniques. The popularity and wide prevalence of the land
measure called hala during this period underlines the significance of the plough. The
Kashyapiyakrisisukti, a text whose core is placed in the eighth-ninth centuries, deals
with all aspects of agriculture at length. From the last centuries of the first.millenn~um A.D.
onwards we have texts which suggest different methods for the treatment of plant and animal
diseases.
Changes in Economy
Transition t o Early
Medieval India
The Harshacharita speaks of some irrigation facilities in the region around western Uttar
Pradesh. It mentions such devices for irrigation as the Udghataghati and the
ghatiyantra. Inscriptions from Bengal mention rivers, rivulets and channels in the context
of rural settlements and their boundaries and we also come across the expression '
devamatrika (watered by rain7 suggesting the dependence of agriculture on rains and rivers.
In South India tanks and reservoirs were built to irrigate the fields. In some cases they were
the major landmarks in the countryside; this goes to suggest their importance. During the
rule of the Pallavas in South India there were elected committees (eri-variyams) in the
villages to look after the construction and maintenance of tanks and reservoirs. Several
Pallava rulers are credited with the construction of such irrigational facilities. By the tenth
century araghattas or irrigational wells were in vogue in rural south eastern Marwar in
Rajasthan. It may be assumed that they had come into use at an earlier date.
36. 6. 2 Crops and Plants
Varieties of cereals, including rice, wheat and lentil; legumes, vegetables and fruits are
mentioned in the Amarakosha which is dated to the Gupta period. People possessed the
knowledge of fruit grafting as is evident from the Brihat Samhita. Hieun Tsang mentions
varieties of rice, mustard, ginger, numerous vegetables and fruits. The Harshacharita
similarly provides a good account of crops and plants. We come across references to different
types of rice, sugarcane, mustard, sesame, cotton, wheat, barley and pulses. Various kinds of
spices such as turmeric, clove, black pepper and ginger were also grown. Vegetables such as
gourd, pumpkin, cucumber, beans, garlic etc. were produced. Among fruits one may mention
coconut, arecanut, jackfruit, oranges, mahua and mango. Betel leaf was also grown. Some
of these plants and fruits are also recorded in the inscriptions of the period. Bana's
Harshacharita had a wide geographical canvass and in addition to the Upper and Middle
Gangetic plains it included descriptive details about Assam, Bengal and Central India.
Therefore, we come across references to bamboos, cotton plants, loads of flax and hemp
bundles in Central India, and cane, bamboo and silk in the context of eastern India. In the
Pallava and Chalukya d t o r i e s roughly spread over Tamil Nadu, the Western Deccan and
parts of Karnataka rice, millets, gingelly and sugarcane were cultivated. The fruits that were
grown included plantain, jackfruit, mango and coconut. Unmistakably, the number and
variety of crops, fruits and vegetables are striking. The presence of brahmanas and artisans in
rural settlements, land reclamation, certain changes in technology and the expansion of
irrigational facilities stimulated the proliferation of crops and plants. The consequence of all
these developments was unprecedented growth of rural economy.
RURAL SETTLEMENTS
The above mentioned developments took place in rural settlements in early medieval India.
Grama was the usual term for villages. However, all rural settlements were not of the same
kind. We come across other terms denoting different types of rural settlements. Palli
normally meant a tribal village. The expression Pataka stood for a part of a village. It was
a kind of a hamlet with a name of its own but actually formed a part of a l argr village. The
rise in the number of Patakas within the same village boundary evidently suggested the
extention of agriculture. Settlements of herdsmen were called ghosas. However, it may be
remembered that these terms representing different types of settlements were not always
unchangable categories. With the spread of agriculture and brahrnanical culture tribal hamlets
too changed in character.
Further, owing to the convergence of several factors some villages could become meeting
points for a group of rural settlements and develop into larger settlements. In fact, from
circa A.D. 900 onwards some settlements thus developed into urban centres. It may be
mentioned that the names of the settlements did not always reflect such changes. Even after a :
village settlement had grown in size and changed in character earlier village names continued
to be in use. Villages could also be divided on thebasis of their Sanskritic and non-
Sanskritic names. While the non-Sanskritic names may suggest the gradual transformation
of tribal hamlets to agricultural villages the Sanskritic names reflect the spread of Brahmanic
culture and ideology.
What constituted a village ? Generally, a village comprised the habitat (vastu), cultivated
land (Ksetra) and uncultivated land. The last category included pasture land (gochara)
woods and forest. The issue of village boundaries, however, is problematic because they
Changes in Economy
could not have always been well defined. Settlements, as we know by now, could always
grow and expand. At times village boundaries could coincide with natural boundaries like
rivers and/or hills. But in instances where settlements were contiguous the spatial limits of a
village could be specified by referring to the adjoining villages. A large number of copper-
plate charters of the post-Gupta period while recording landgrants describe various types of
land which include cultivated, uncultivated, high, low, water-logged, marshy, grassy and
forest land. The productivity of the soil and the quality of the land seem to have been on the
basis of such elaborate description of the types. Such elaborate descriptions of various types
of land also suggest growing importance of agriculture and animal husbandry.
Villages donated to brahmanas came to be known as brahmadeyas and agraharas.
Villages which were donated to and inhabited by brahmanas were brahmadeyas.
Agrahara villages, although they were inhabited by brahmanas, were associated with+non-
brahmanas as well. The proprietory right of such villages, however, belonged to the
brahmanas only. In South India such villages were also known as mangalams. Both types
of brahmanic settlements in south India can be distinguished from the non-brahmanic
ordinary villages at the level of administrative and social organization. While the sabha
represented the brahmanic settlements, the ur represented the ordinary village settlement. It
is difficult to work out the ratio between the two types of settlements for any part of the
country. Ordinary villages, as we know by now, were being frequently donated to brahmanas.
Nevertheless, it may be said that the donated villages formed only a part of the total number
of rural settlements.
36. 8 NEW PATTERN OF AGRARIAN RELATIONS
We shall now discuss the main features of agrarian relations which developed in the early
medieval period.
36. 8. 1 Obligations of the Peasant
Landgrant charters bestowed the beneficiary with superior rights over and above those of the
inhabitants in the donated villageJvillages. The donee was entitled to collect all kinds of
taxes. He could collect regular and irregular taxes and fixed and unifixed payments. The list
of taxes in the inscriptions end with the expression adi meaning et cetera which could be
used to the advantage of the landlord, when necessary. The donees enjoyed these exceptional
advantages in addition to such regular taxes as bhaga, bhoga, kara, uparikara,
hiranya, udranga, halikakara, etc. In fact, the peasantry in early medieval India was
subjected to an ever increasing taxlrent burden. The Vakataka grants list fourteen types of
dues. The Pallava records specify eighteen to twenty two of them. By the turn of the first
millennium A.D. the number of taxes increased enormously.
The superior rights of the beneficiary in land are clear in the charters belonging to northern
Maharashtra, Konkan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat in the Gupta and post-Gupta times. The
donees were empowered with the right to evict the peasantry at wilt and to replace thern with
new peasants. From the seventh century onwards grants give away water resources, trees,
bushes and pastures to the donee. The trend accelerated after the tenth century. The transfer of
these resources to the donee not only affected the peasantry of the donated villages adversely
but also strengthened the power of the donees. Forced labour is referred to in the Skanda
Purana. Inscriptions too suggest that by the fifth-sixth centuries vishti was a well
entrenched practice in western, central and southern India. In addition, the clause appeared in
the landgrant charters asking the peasants to carry out the orders of the donee. In regions such
as Charnba, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Eastern India the condition of the peasants
clearly suffered a decline.
36. 8. 2 Feudal Land Tenure
Yajnavalkya and Brihaspati, authors of Smriti works, mention four grades of land rights in
the same piece of land. According to them holders of rights of different grades were: the
Mahipati (the king), Kshetrasvamin (the master of the land), Karshaka (cultivator)
and the sub-tenant. Landgrants led to hierarchical rights over land and sub-infeudation. The
practice gave rise to a hierarchy of lakidlords, which lived off the surplus produced by the
actual cultivators. The religious establishments in eastern India and the south with their
Transition to Early
enormous donations in land, cash, livestock etc. emerged as landed mangates at Ramagiri in
Medieval India
Orissa and at Nalanda in Bihar were recipients of large scale land donations. The Nalanda
monastery enjoyed the gift of 200 villages. Moreover, land and villages were given away to
the temples in south India during the reign of the Pallavas. The Chola records, in the
succeeding period, morebquently refer to such devadana (literally 'given to gods') gifts of
land. From the Pallava period onwards temple servants were remunerated through
assignments of land. The implications are obvious. Religious establishments became landed
beneficiaries and in turn they gave plots of land to their dependants such as petty officids,
artisans, musicians, attendants etc. Such assignments could be subleased to the actual tiller
of the soil. Likewise, temple land was leased out to tenants for cultivation. Grants of land to
temples from the Pallava period onwards resulted in the growth of a complex system of land
tenure. Intensification of the process, especially from the eighth century onwards, created a
class of peasantry which was overburdened with taxes and which was subsistent to a class of
dominant landlords with superior rights in land.
36. 8. 3 Growth of Closed Economy
Early medieval Indii economy experienced the rise and growth of a number of rival
settlements which were not linked to exchange networks and long-distance trade.
Although the exchange networks did not entirely collapse, the transfer of settlements to
various categories of donees had created a congenial atmosphere fok the emergence of self-
sustaining, closed units of production and consumption. Local needs came to be met locally.
The movement of soldiers for wars, pilgrims to religious centres and brahmanas for the
acquisition and enjoyment of landgrants were possibly the only forms of spatial mobility.
The Dhamasastras restricted the movement of the brahmanas. In order to keep their Vedic
and domestic f ms burning they were not expected to travel long distances. Sea voyages were
prohibited. Similarly, maniages in neighbouring areas were preferred. All this fostered strong
local identities. The growing sense of localism and the self-sufficiency of the villages is
reflected in expressions such as gramadharama, gramacara, and sthanacara all referring
to village or local practices in contemporary Puranic literature.
Check Your Progress 2
I
1) Discuss the major advances made in the field of agricultural technology in about five
lines.
2)
Discuss in about ten lines the main features of agrarian relations during the early
medieval period.
3)
Which of the following statements are right (/) or wrong (x) ?
i)
Decline of towns does not lead to the migration of artisans to the countryside.
ii) There are no references to irrigational facilities in the Harshacharita.
iii) All rural settler~ients were not of an uniform pattern.
iv) Villages donated to and inhabited by brahmanas were known as brahmadeyas.
v)
The Dharmasastra restricted the movement of the brahamanas.
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36. 9 LET US SUM UP
- .
The different dimensions of change in economy from about the middle of the first
millennium A.D. have been considered. These changes were extremely significant in so far
as they brought the ancient period to an end and marked the beginning of a new stage in
Indian history. The ways in which the new stage marked a departure from the ancient period
can be seen in the major changes themselves. The Gupta and post-Gupta times were
characterised by:
the emergence of a class of landlords and a class of subjugated peasantry in an agrarian
economy which was predominantly rural and agrarian,
conspicuous decline of trade,
decline of towns, and
the paucity of metallic money.
However, the period was also characterised by immense dynamism. It is in this context that
such changes as appeared later have to be appreciated: the growth of new crops, the
construction of irrigational facilltles, the increasing awareness about plant and animal
diseasesb the improvements in other aspects related to agriculture, the growth in the size of
some settlements which emerged as meeting points in the midst of rural clusters and the re-
emergence of exchange networks, fairs and trading centres.
36. 10 KEY WORDS
Acculturation : Adopt to a new culture
i
Barter : Exchange of goods for other goods
Benefice : Gifted landed property held by Brahmanas, etc.
Beneficiary : receiver of benefits
I
Charter : deed conveying grant of rights
!
Donee : recipient of gift
Exoti c : introduced from abroad
i
ltinerant : travelling from place to place
Pedlar : travelling salesperson
36. 1 1 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
EXERCISES
Check Your Progress 1
I ) Compare your answer with the content in Sec. 36.3.
Changes in Economy
2) i) x ii) v' iii) v' iv) / V) x
Transltlon to Early
Medlevai India
Check Your Progress 2
1) See Sub-sec. 36.6.1
2) Consult Sec. 33.8
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3) i) x ii) x iii) / iv) / v) /