2. From the post-Maurya period, and especially from Gupta
times, Indiaβs political and administrative developments
tended to feudalism the state gear.
The Land Grants & Administrative Rights
The early Pali texts of the pre-Maurya period refer to the villages
granted to the Brahmanas by the rulers of Kosala and Magadha. A
term used for such grants was βBrahamdeyyaβ.
3. Land grants
However, the Earliest epigraphic record of a land grants in India is a Saatavahana
inscription of the first century BC, which refers to the grant of a village as a gift in the
Ashvamedha Sacrifice. However, it is not clear, whether the administrative or revenue
rights of these lands were also given to those priests or not. It has been guessed that
the administrative rights were perhaps given up for the first time in the grants made to
Buddhist monks by the Satavahana ruler β Gautamiputra Satakarni in the second
century AD. Such a land grant included the rights that :
β The royal troops could not enter such land granted
β The government officials and district police was not supposed to disturb such
lands.
4. Land grants during gupta period.
There was a tradition of giving land grants to the priests and temples, free of
taxes, and villages were granted to officials with administrative rights. After the
grants, the land were cultivated property.
The land grants weakened the central authority. Grantig of villages to officiers led
to the growth of the feudal system. The granted lands were cultivated by peasants.
Imposition of the force labour (visthi) in the society.
They started to exploit the peasants.
5. Land Grants
β From the inscriptions of the gupta period it is evident that
the gupta rulers provide tax free lands to the brahmans and
religious institutions which is called Agrahara.
β Lands were granted to the brahmans, buddhist or jain
institutions by the kings, queens or his officials or private
individuals or by guilds.
β Sometimes the whole village was granted as present to the
brahmans or the religious institutions.
β As a result of the rent-free lands on the large scale to the
6. The earliest grant gifts
β The earliest mention of grant gifts of lands to brahmans
occur in the later vedic period.
β In the mahabharata, danadharma section (33.17) of
anushasana parva, bhishma tells Yudhishthira about the
important of gifting and the position of the brahmans
They are the king makers, and a king can hold to retain his
position only as long as he enjoys their favour.
7. Types of gifts in mahabharata.
Danadharma parva refers to three types of
major gifts:
β The gift of gold
β Cattle.
β land.
8. From the Gupta Period to Post-Gupta period, there were
certain political and administrative developments which
tend to feudalise the state machinery. One of the striking
developments was the practice of making the land grants
to βBrahmanasβ a tradition which was sanctified by the
injunctions laid down in βDharmasastrasβ, the βPuranasβ
and the βMahabharataβ.
9. There was an increase in grants from 4th century.
From 5th/6th century, kings virtually all over the Indian subcontinent were making such
gifts, the details of which were generally inscribed on copper plates.
Villages granted to brahmans were known as agraharas, brahmadeyas or shasanas.
10. Sources
This is mentioned in some land-grant inscriptions from this period onwards, and
also in the account of Hiuen-Tsang.
The guptas were not, however, involved in big way in this development.
There in only one bonafide inscription recording a land grant made by the Gupta
king.
Bhitari stone pillar inscription of skandagupta,which records the gifts of village
in favour of a vishnu temple. But does not make any stipulation (specified)
regarding the terms of the gift.
11. Other inscriptions
Apart from this, gaya and nalanda copper plates of
samudragupta.
But these are not considered genuine due to the spellings of
some words, certain ungrammatical portions, and the epithets
(descriptive) used for samudragupta.
Suggested that they may have been copies of genuine grants.
12. contiβ¦.
Chhabra and Gai: the palaeography of the nalanda plates
suggested that it definitely belongs to the gupta period.
But they were not the great donors like the Vakatakas.
13. Land grants by their subordinate rulers.
The parivrajaka maharajas ruled over the baghelkhand area and under
the suzerainty of the guptas made the land grant.
Kings were the prime donors, others contributed as well.
Dhanaidaha copper plate inscription of Gupta year 113 (432-33) states
that a royal officer (ayuktaka) bought some land and gifted it to a
brahmana named varahasvamin.
Damodarpur copper plates states that a brahmana applied for a grant of
a piece of land to the administration of Pundravardhana bhukti.
