25. Transformation of the Ancient Phase

Social Crisis and the Origin of Land Grants

• The varna society was based on the producing activities of the peasants who were called vaisyas and of the labourers who were called sudras.
• The taxes collected by the royal officers from the vaisyas enabled the kings to pay salaries to their priests and purchase luxury and other items.
• But in 3rd and 4th century A.D., the lower sections refused to pay taxes and render labour services. This led to varna-samkara or intermixture of social classes. This state of affairs is referred to as Kaliyuga.
• Several measures were adopted to overcome these crises such as to grant land to priests and officials in lieu of salaries and remuneration.
• In this way the burden of collecting taxes and maintaining law and order in the donated areas was passed on to the beneficiaries.
• Moreover by implanting brahmanas in the conquered tribal areas the tribal people could be taught the brahmanical way of life and the need of obeying the king and paying taxes to him.

 

Decline of Central Control

• Land grants became frequent from the fifth century A.D., and that too free of taxes and beneficiaries were given the right to govern the people living in the donated villages.
• Villages were granted to the brahmanas forever so the power of the king was heavily undermined from the end of the Gupta period.
• Royal control was further eroded through the payment of govt. officials by the land grants.
• Accordingly from the time of Harsha public officials were paid in land revenues. The governors, ministers, magistrates and officers were given portions of land for their personal upkeep.
• All this created vested interests at the cost of royal authority.

 

New Agrarian Economy

• Land beneficiaries could not cultivate land themselves, nor could they collect revenue themselves.
• The actual cultivation was entrusted to the peasants and sharecroppers mainly sudras who were attached to the land but did not legally own it but occupied it temporarily.
• When villages were granted in the tribal areas the agriculturists were placed under the control of religious beneficiaries mainly brahmanas in the backward and mountainous areas like Orissa, Deccan etc.
• From there the practice spread to the basin of the Ganga. In north India also artisans and peasants were asked not to leave the villages granted to the beneficiaries.

 

Decline of Trade and Towns

• Trade with the western part of Roman empire ended in 3rd century and silk trade with Iran and the Byzantine stopped in middle of 6th century.
• The decline of trade can be demonstrated by practical absence of gold coins in the country after the 6th century.
• The decline of trade led to the decay of towns especially after the Gupta period. Due to which to meet their needs gave rise to smaller units of production, each unit meeting its own needs.
• Some changes also happened in social organisation after 6th century as in Gangetic basin, the vaisyas were regarded as free peasants, but the land grants created landlords with peasants on one hand and king on the other, so that vaisyas became as good as the sudras.
• This modified order spread throughout the north India even to Bengal and later even to south India.
• In the outlying areas there were only two orders, the brahmanas and the sudras.

Changes in the Varna System

• Frequent seizures of power and land grants gave rise to several categories of landed people.
• When a person acquire land and power he naturally sought a high position in society even though he might be from low varna.
• Thus formerly all things in society were graded according to the varnas, but now they came to be determined according to the landed possessions of a person.
• From the 7th century onwards numerous castes were created, the sudras and the untouchables were divided into countless sub-castes.
• Although people living in different areas followed the same occupation, they became divided into sub-castes according to the territory to which they belonged.
• Many new tribal people who were admitted into Hindu society because of land grants were enrolled as sudras and mixed castes.
• Every tribe was now given the status of a separate caste in Hindu society.

 

Cultural Developments

• In about the 6th-7th centuries started the formation of sub-national units such as Andhra, Assam, Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Orissa etc. As recognised by Hsuan Tsang and even Jaina texts.
• Sanskrit continued to be used by the ruling class from 2nd century A.D. And from 7th century the style of language became more verbose and ornate as found in writings of Banabhatta.
• From 7th century onwards there's a remarkable development in linguistic history of India such as Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya, Assamese and Hindi etc.
• It seems that each region came to develop its own language on account of its isolation from the others because of the decline in trade and lack of communication.
• From 7th century every region came to have its own script and hence nobody can read post Gupta inscriptions found in different parts of the country unless he learns several scripts.

 

Bhakti and Tantricism

• In sculpture and construction of the temples every region came to evolve its own style from the 7th and 8th centuries.
• Particularly south India tended to become the land of stone temples.
• Although the same gods and goddesses were worshipped throughout the country, people of every religion portrayed them in sculptures in their own way.
• Hindu divinities came to be arranged according to their grades in the hierarchy with Vishnu, Siva and Durga occupying higher positions.
• The monastic organisations also came to be divided into 5 ranks with the Acharya being the head.
• In this period the Bhakti cult spread throughout the country which meant that people made all kinds of offerings to god in return for the favour of the god.
• It meant the devotees completely surrendered to the god.
• The most remarkable development in religious field from the 6th century A.D. was the spread of tantricism.
• It admitted both women and sudras into its ranks and laid great stress on the use of magic rituals.
• The rituals were intended to satisfy the material desires of the devotees for physical possessions and cure the day-to-day illness and injuries.
• The brahmanas adopted many of the tribal ritual and charms, which were now officially compiled, sponsored and fostered by them.
• In course of time these were distorted by the brahmanas and priests to serve the interests of their rich clients.
• Many medieval manuscripts found in different parts of the country deal with tantricism and astrology, and the two are completely mixed with each other.