The Origins of Feudalism in India
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9086556 |
|---|---|
| Authors | R S Sharma (1University of Patna, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1957 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 297-328 |
| Publication date | 1957-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4995 • E-ISSN: 1568-5209 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/156852057x00155 |
| OpenAlex | W2004126347 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
It is very difficult precisely to define the term feudalism, which is attributed to stages of historical development far removed from one another in time and place, such as the Interregnum (2475-z260 B.C.) after the Old Kingdom in Egypt and the Chou period in China (C. 22 zzC. z2o B.C.); but generally it is applied to society in mediaeval Europe, from the 5th to the 15th century A.D. It is therefore in the light of certain broad features of feudalism in the last sense that we will investigate the origins of feudalism in India. From the post-Maurya period, and especially from Gupta times, certain political and administrative developments tended to feudalise the state apparatus. The most striking development was the practice of making land grants to the brahmainas, a custom which was sanctified by the injunctions laid down in the Dbarmaidstras, the didactic portions of the Epic, and the Purdnas; the Anusdsana Parva of the Mahbbhdrata devotes a whole chapter to the praise of making gifts of land (bbhlmiddna-praiazmsd). The early Pili texts of the pre-Maurya period refer to the villages granted to the brdhmanas by the rulers of Kosala and Magadha, but they do not mention the abandonment of any administrative rights by the donors. The same is the case with the earliest epigraphic record of a land-grant, a Satavahana inscription of the ist century B.C., which refers to the grant of a village as a gift in the aivamedha sacrifice.) Surprisingly enough, administrative rights were perhaps given up for the first time in the grants made to Buddhist monks by the Sitavihana ruler Gautamiputra Satakarini in the 2nd century A.D. The land granted to them could not be entered by royal troops, molested by government
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · China · Economic history · Feudalism · Interregnum · Literature · Period (music · Political science · Politics · Praise · State (computer science · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Law · Philosophy · South Asian Studies and Conflicts
| Citations per year | 0.04 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1981 - 1985 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |