Feudalism in Ancient India

Category: History of Ancient India, History of IndiaOn July 19, 2013 By Ajay Goel

Feudalism in Ancient India

With the introduction of Marxist method of analysis in the study of ancient history of
India, the political and economic aspects of the period have been revalued and the
question of the feudalism in ancient India has once again come into surface.
Scholars have talked about the class struggle and feudalism in ancient India and told
us about the existence of slave society in later Vedic period.

In fact, the production system of Asia had some special characteristics of the
system. Those were:

the state controlled irrigation system,

lack of private ownership of land,
existence of the self sufficient villages,
paucity of urbanization,
tribal ownership of land,
self-sufficiency in handicrafts and
the existence of agrarian economy.

The Asian system of production had many differences with what was followed in
Ancient India. India during that period had private ownership of land as well and
there was a ruling class also, clustering round the king, who used to grasp the
surplus money from the people. Archaeological excavations have proved that there
were planned urbanization as well and hence the old theory of Asian economic
system has been rejected. Now the social structure of ancient India is being studied
from the angle of historical materialism and Dialectical materialism.

In a vast country like India where there are so many languages and varied
environment, the stages of social mobility or social progress could never have
uniformity. Indian society had never depended absolutely on the labour of the slave,
who in the ancient period was known as the Sudras and the member of slaves also
were limited only a few. However, during the post-later Vedic era there might have
slaves who played a significant part in the Mauryan economic system. He preferred
to call it a Vaishya Sudra society. The Sudras too were not slaves. The higher castes
too tried to grasp the surplus money from the people. Thus the Indian feudal system
cannot be compared with that of Europe. In fact, there were some changes in the
social system of India at that period where in there was an inter mixing or interaction
between the Brahmanical ideology and the tribal culture and following this interaction
the tribal life was greatly influenced by the agrarian rural economy of those days.

Feudalism in India practically began with the early medieval period, when the
villages became almost self-sufficient owing to slanginess in urbanization and
commercial activities during the fag end of the Gupta period. During the first century
the Indian kings began to donate land freely to the Brahmins, scholars and religious
institutions conferring the ownership of the land and the right to collect revenues
thereof on them. This had enabled them to make a direct link and control over the
peasantrya system which Kosambi called a super imposed feudalism. It increased
in its volume during the reign of Guptas and Harsha Vardhana, and a new class of
land owners emerged who began to exploit the cultivators. He called this system-
feudalism from the bottom as a result of which the agrarian economy had suffered
much.

Some scholars believe that feudalism began when the kings started donating lands
to the Brahmans, temples and the monasteries which increased in its volume during
the time of the Guptas. During this period many of the densely populated villages
along with all their cultivable lands, revenues, executive and judicial rights, freedom
from royal interference and right to enjoy money collected from the fees and fines
and confiscations were gifted to the Brahmans or religious institutions.

Later on the same type of gifts were made to the soldiers. With the growth of
regional self-sufficient economic system this religious and secular gifts gained
popularity. As a result of this self-sufficient economic system both the urban life and
commerce deteriorated and the amount of coin also deteriorated.

As feudalism developed community right on land diminished. The pasture-land,

marshes and forests-all were gifted. A middle order land owner class emerged. The
peasant lost his right of free movement and was forced to pay heavy taxes and do
forced labour. He became a slave. There was the possibility of further transfer of
land and in reality that .happened too. By 6th century A.D. production fell causing fall
in commercial activities and the growth of self-sufficient economy. In such an
economy coins became scarce and hence the priests and the royal servants began
to collect their revenues through land revenue causing the peasant to face further
hardship and exploitation.