Skip to document
Welcome to StudocuSign in to access the best study resources
Guest user
0followers
HomeMy LibraryAsk AI
  • You don't have any recent items yet.
My Library
  • You don't have any courses yet.
  • You don't have any books yet.
  • You don't have any Studylists yet.

THE Formation OF THE State

The Pallava, Pandya, Cera, and Cola dynasties of the sixth century AD...
Course

Ancient India (HSB654)

254 Documents
Students shared 254 documents in this course
Academic year: 2021/2022
Uploaded by:
Anonymous Student
This document has been uploaded by a student, just like you, who decided to remain anonymous.
Aligarh Muslim University

Recommended for you

Comments

Please sign in or register to post comments.

Students also viewed

Related documents

Preview text

THE FORMATION OF THE STATE

The Pallava, Pandya, Cera, and Cola dynasties of the sixth century AD represent the new agrarian system's political control. An agricultural society that was supported by royal patronage spawned the new political structures of the Pallavas' Simhavarman and Pandya's Kadungon lines. Politicians of the Vijayalaya line at another time represented the same kind of authority derived from the paddy-based economy. If the Ceras were related to any other royal families, the paddy economy likely played a role in their rise to political power as well. The rise of a class-based society and the eventual establishment of a state were made more likely by the expansion of new production relations and the spread of wet-rice agriculture during the 6th and 7th centuries. When wet-rice farming was first introduced, it was accompanied by the development and expansion of a new political structure. Ancestors of this development included the transition from family labour to nonfamily labour; multiple functionalists to hereditary occupational groups; clans to castes; and a simple clannish settlement to a structured agricultural village and the monarchy to chiefdom.

The establishment of brahmadeya villages in the fertile valleys of major rivers in the region was a noticeable institutional feature of agrarian expansion. This was a well-planned event put together by the king. Velvikkuti plates, for example, refer to the restoration of villages originally given to brahmanas as ekabhoga and then misappropriated by others. As the Velvikkuti case shows, all of these lost villages were later restored as brahmadeyas under corporate control. There are many reasons why this shift from ekabhoga to corporate brahmadeya (collective holding) is important. Although the ekabhoga holding remained, it was mostly used as a payment for a high-ranking official. Success in developing a new institutional and political patronage system for the new system of productive relations was achieved by the proliferation of the latter

The gradual expansion of plough agriculture across the wetlands in the sixth and seventh centuries helped to further structure social relations. When agrarian settlements expanded through the creation of brahmadeyas, the brahmans' superior rights over communal holdings and clan families were often superimposed. There had to have been an extensive transition from primitive agriculture and clan settlements to advanced agriculture and farmer settlements. It was a process of differentiation, stratification, and political formation that led to the development of the state-system and authority structures in the country As the agrarian economy expanded, these developments occurred simultaneously and in conjunction with one another. The economy's growth was assured by such developments.

Plough farming's production relations were expanding to the point where they dominated the entire society. The establishment of a hierarchical system of occupational specialisation was a long-term institutional process. The development of agrarian localities was a continuous process, and it resulted in a uniform social network everywhere it occurred. Human settlements (ur) that were originally based on kinship have been penetrated by the mechanisms of stratification as a result of agrarian expansion. For the most part, non- brahman villages were transformed into productive relations that transcended kinship over time. In contemporary inscriptions, the non-brahman villages are known as vellanvakai. To begin with, these settlements were regarded as agricultural areas (nadu). The nadu depicted in the heroic poems was therefore fundamentally different from this one. The nadus became

a political powerhouse in the monarchical system because of their role as agrarian enclaves of social hierarchy.

There was no difference in social structure regardless of whether the villages were brahman (brahmadeyas) or vellanvakai (ur) settlements. When it came to velanvakai settlements, there was a hierarchy with the landowner (brahmadeyakilavar or urar/nattar in the case of brahmadeya settlements) at the top. Many leaseholders (karalar), most of whom were artisans and craftsmen, served as the intermediary in the transaction. The primary producers remained at the bottom of society (atiyalar). As the leaseholders grew in numbers, a new group of farmers emerged who owned small plots of land as hereditary property (kani). Many intermediary holders, such as temple lands or family holdings, received kani rights as well. In time, they were passed down from generation to generation. The primary producers began to cultivate the land that had previously been cultivated by the landowners. Seventh and Eighth-Century hierarchies became more complex. Different groups of people began to emerge with varying degrees of land hereditary rights. From the bottom to the top, the agricultural produce was distributed in a predetermined proportion. It followed a predetermined route through all of the various social strata with varying degrees of entitlement. The landowners reaped the most benefits, as the settlers in their land ensured them of goods and services, whereas the primary producers were the most exploited. As the result of the brahmanized agricultural society and polity, the state in South India was established.

Was this document helpful?

THE Formation OF THE State

Course: Ancient India (HSB654)

254 Documents
Students shared 254 documents in this course

University: Aligarh Muslim University

Was this document helpful?
THE FORMATION OF THE STATE
The Pallava, Pandya, Cera, and Cola dynasties of the sixth century AD represent the new
agrarian system's political control. An agricultural society that was supported by royal
patronage spawned the new political structures of the Pallavas' Simhavarman and Pandya's
Kadungon lines. Politicians of the Vijayalaya line at another time represented the same kind
of authority derived from the paddy-based economy. If the Ceras were related to any other
royal families, the paddy economy likely played a role in their rise to political power as well.
The rise of a class-based society and the eventual establishment of a state were made more
likely by the expansion of new production relations and the spread of wet-rice agriculture
during the 6th and 7th centuries. When wet-rice farming was first introduced, it was
accompanied by the development and expansion of a new political structure. Ancestors of
this development included the transition from family labour to nonfamily labour; multiple
functionalists to hereditary occupational groups; clans to castes; and a simple clannish
settlement to a structured agricultural village and the monarchy to chiefdom.
The establishment of brahmadeya villages in the fertile valleys of major rivers in the region
was a noticeable institutional feature of agrarian expansion. This was a well-planned event
put together by the king. Velvikkuti plates, for example, refer to the restoration of villages
originally given to brahmanas as ekabhoga and then misappropriated by others. As the
Velvikkuti case shows, all of these lost villages were later restored as brahmadeyas under
corporate control. There are many reasons why this shift from ekabhoga to corporate
brahmadeya (collective holding) is important. Although the ekabhoga holding remained, it
was mostly used as a payment for a high-ranking official. Success in developing a new
institutional and political patronage system for the new system of productive relations was
achieved by the proliferation of the latter
The gradual expansion of plough agriculture across the wetlands in the sixth and seventh
centuries helped to further structure social relations. When agrarian settlements expanded
through the creation of brahmadeyas, the brahmans' superior rights over communal
holdings and clan families were often superimposed. There had to have been an extensive
transition from primitive agriculture and clan settlements to advanced agriculture and
farmer settlements. It was a process of differentiation, stratification, and political formation
that led to the development of the state-system and authority structures in the country As
the agrarian economy expanded, these developments occurred simultaneously and in
conjunction with one another. The economy's growth was assured by such developments.
Plough farming's production relations were expanding to the point where they dominated
the entire society. The establishment of a hierarchical system of occupational specialisation
was a long-term institutional process. The development of agrarian localities was a
continuous process, and it resulted in a uniform social network everywhere it occurred.
Human settlements (ur) that were originally based on kinship have been penetrated by the
mechanisms of stratification as a result of agrarian expansion. For the most part, non-
brahman villages were transformed into productive relations that transcended kinship over
time. In contemporary inscriptions, the non-brahman villages are known as vellanvakai. To
begin with, these settlements were regarded as agricultural areas (nadu). The nadu depicted
in the heroic poems was therefore fundamentally different from this one. The nadus became

Students also viewed

Related documents