The post gupta period was a period of transition and transformation in indian history marked by political decentralization,regionalization,economic changes, cultural developments, and social trasformations.
2. Discussion points
1) Background
2) Social structure
■ Lords and peasants
■ Proliferation of castes
■ Growth of kayastha
■ The untouchables
■ Crafts and Castes
3) Decline of Vaishyas and Rise in the social status of the Shudras
4) Summary
3. Background
■ Golden age ended with decline of the Guptas and their
Feudatories in the 6th century AD.
■ Generally referred to as the early medieval period.
■ Emergence of numerous regional kingdoms.
■ Pushyabhutis, Palas, Pratiharas, Chalukyas, Pallavas,
Cholas - important regional kingdoms.
■ They had Feudal political structure and it influenced post-
gupta society as well.
4.
5. Post-Gupta Characteristics:
■ Decline of urban settlements.
■ Trade activities suffered a setback, clear from the fact that
minting and circulation of coins were on a limited scale.
■ Agrarian expansion
■ Large scale land grants
■ Social structure : sizable ruling landed aristrocracy,
intermediaries and a large body of peasantry along with
proliferation of castes.
6. Social Structure
■ Land grants and landed intermediaries modified the varna-divided society.
■ 3rd – 4th century AD , a deep social crisis – ‘Kaliyuga’
■ Situation in which classes had discarded the function assigned to them, led to
varnasamkara or intermixture of social classes.
■ New social groups did not fit in with the four-fold varna system.
■ Social rank came to be connected with his position as a landholder among different
categories of landholders. Their rise from Gopati to Bhupati.
■ New jatis emerged .
■ Number of mixed castes and untouchables castes increased.
■ Transformation of craft guilds into castes as a result of decline of trade and urban centres
, helped in the process of formation of new jatis.
7. Lords and Peasants
■ In agrarian system different grades of landlords as distinguished from the
peasants.
■ Terms for landed beneficiaries – bhogi, bhokta, bhogapati
■ Peasantry itself wasn’t a homogenous community. Terms used for them –
Krishivala, halika, ardhi, kutumbi.
■ Common to these expressions that they have nothing to do with control over land.
■ They refer to different categories of tillers of the soil- Dependent peasants, share-
coppers, field labourers etc. none of them were in absolute , independent control
over their holdings.
8. Proliferation of castes
■ Castes incorporated within each varna.
■ Example – Abhira Tribe fragmented into Abhira brahamanas, Abhira kshatriyas and
Abhira shudras.
1) Brahmanas –
■ migration to various regions for the enjoyment of land grants accelerated the
process of caste and sub-caste formation.
■ Brahmanas who stood close to political power and held high state offices were a
different section.
9. 2) Kshatriyas –
■ New ruling houses from among the local tribes and foreign ethnic groups like the Bactrian
Greeks , Shakas, Parthians, Hunas etc. second class kshatriyas.
■ Multiplied when many tribal chiefs were transformed into “Hinduised” rajas through the
approval of the Brahmanas, whom they patronized.
3) Shudras
■ Endogamous groups coming from various communities.
■ Petty peasant castes were included in the Shudra varna .
■ Tribes – gradual transformation as peasants were incorporated into the brahmanic society
as shudras.
10. Growth of Kayasthas
■ Product of socio-economic forces.
■ Land-grants involved transfer of land revenues,
■ Need for a body of recordkeepers/scribes.
■ Kayasthas – only one group of the community of scribes.
■ Gradually scribes as a community came to be known as kayasthas.
■ Initially educated members of the upper varna recruited but later from various
varnas.
11. The Untouchables
■ Assumed a definite shape by early common centuries.
■ Numerically small.
■ 3rd century CE onwards practice of untouchability appears.
■ Katyayana, first to use “ Asprishya” expression for untouchables.
■ 1st millennium CE – fishermen, hunters, butchers appear as untouchables.
■ Chandalas - only section of the untouchables, although the lowest in the social ladder.
■ Resistance to the process of ‘ Brahmanization’ pushed them to the position of
untouchables.
■ Dispossed of their lands and made to settle outside the villages .
12. Crafts and castes
■ Regarded as untouchables as a result of decline in trade and urban centres.
■ Various castes such as the Svarnakara , malakara, chitrakara , napita emerged out
of the numerous crafts.
Decline of VAISHYAS and rise in the status of the SHUDRAS
■ After the association with agriculture, shuras were rising in economic and social
status. They were no longer slaves and servants.
■ In agrarian setting of the post-gupta period , Vaishya traders and merchants
suffered economic loss and social degradation.
13. Summary
■ Post-Gupta period – Different dimensions of change in society.
■ Extremely important as they brought the ancient period to an end.
■ Characterized by the emergence of a class of landlords and a class of subjugated
peasantry in an agrarian economy.
■ Closed economy - Conspicuous decline of trade, decline of towns and the Paucity
of metallic money.
■ Feudal society weakened position of the king.
■ Emergence of many sub-castes.
14. References
Early India : A concise History ( From the Beginning to the
Twelfth Century) , DN Jha
India’s Ancient Past , RS Sharma.
