SM 1 Medieval

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LESSON 1

TOWARDS THE EARLY MEDIEVAL (II): CHANGES IN SOCIETY ANDCULTURE

-Vishwa Mohan Jhan

In this lesson, we shall survey the socio-cultural changes that marked the transition to earlymedieval India. Our sources for locating these changes remain to some extent the same as thosefor discovering political and economic ones, but for the better part they are different. Even whenthey remain the same, they have to be analysed differently. At times the links between the twosets of changes are not difficult to discern, as for example between changes in economic/politicaland social statuses, although the paucity or problems of historical data may make it difficult toestablish the relationship. However, the connection is as often not so easily apparent or seemstenuous at best. In fact, it is not possible in this brief sketch to provide answers to these andother questions, a good deal of which are either under investigation or under debate (in fact, somequestions that you might ask may not have occurred to the specialists at all!). The purpose hereis to introduce you to the subject matter in simplest terms, and induce you to think critically asyou peruse the other readings in the subject.

SOCIETY

A number of important social changes have been identified in the transition to early medievalperiod. These changes are best approached through the composition, character and scope of thecaste system, and the status of women within it. As you know, Jati is the basic unit in the castesystem. People are grouped in endogamous Jatis, i.e. members of a Jati marry within and notoutside their Jati. Often a number of Jatis in an area that are similar to each other in status andoccupation make up a Jati cluster; and these Jatis and Jati clusters form part of one of the fourVarnas - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. At the bottom of this caste hierarchy, i.e.Jati-based Varna hierarchy, are the Untouchables, who are placed outside and in an inferior relation

to the fourfold Varna order, although they are also termed as ‘impure Shudras’.Identifying the nature of caste society and the direction of social changes during our period

demands a careful analysis of the sources. The terms jati and varna are not always used therein our sense of these categories, and their exact import has to be ascertained each time. A textby itself may give the impression of a static society, and it is only through a critical collationof all pieces of relevant information that one is able to see the processes of change.

A comparison of the evidence across our period shows that state society - the society of kingdoms and empires, which was by and large caste society, as distinct from the non-state,casteless societies of hunter-gatherers and tribes- was expanding significantly during our period.First, a considerable number of immigrants from outside the subcontinent, such as the Hunas, the

Gurjaras, etc. were settling down. The Gurjaras, the ancestors of the present Gujar community,seem to have been particularly widespread in western and northwestern India. In some regionsa gradual transformation of the original structure of Gurjara society was well under way duringour period as at the end of it we see not only the emergence of a small section of them asrulers (the Gurjara-Pratiharas) but also the rest as humble peasantry. The recognition of the Hunasas one of the traditional thirty-six Kshatriya clans took a longer time. There were probably otherpeoples too. For instance, the Kalachuris who figure as an important political entity and had even


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founded an era called Kalachuri-Chedi Era are supposed to have been such immigrants, and theterm ‘Kalachuri” is interpreted as a derivative of the Turkish title ‘kulchur’

Large parts of India continued to remain covered with forests, in which small, scatteredgroups of hunter-gatherers and tribal people practising pastoralism and/or primitive agriculture lived.For instance, in calling southern Andhra Pradesh a sparsely populated jungle territory infested byhighwaymen, Xuan Zang referred to one such area dominated by aboriginal population, who didnot lead a settled life and for whom plunder was a legitimate source of livelihood. Similarly, foran extensive country in the northwest, he reports the presence of people who are stated to livesolely by pastoralism, be very warlike, and ‘have no masters, and, whether men or women, haveneither rich nor poor’. Quite a few of the aboriginal groups were in regular touch with the membersof caste society, and vivid descriptions of their lives are recorded, though not without bias, incontemporary works of literature, such as the Dashakumaracharita of Dandin and the Kadambariof Banabhatta.

A number of the aboriginal peoples were also being assimilated in the caste society, somewholly, some in part. For instance, while the name ‘Shabara’ continued to stand for a tribe ora number of tribes till well after our period, the reference to a Shabara king with a Sanskritic

name, Udayana, in our sources suggests the integration of a section of Shabara people into castesociety. In general, the majority of the members of a tribe were converted into a Jati belongingto the Shudra Varna (some into an Untouchable caste), while a tribal chief, if he was sufficientlyresourceful, could claim a Kshatriya status for himself and his close kinsmen.

The caste society was also being transformed from within in response to political, economic,and cultural-ideological changes. An interesting example is the crystallisation of the professionalscalled kayastha as a Jati. Kayasthas come into view as important officials from the Gupta periodonwards, and just after our period are seen as a caste. Our sources suggest that they came froma number of communities, including tribes (especially Karanas) as well as brahmins. The namesof a considerable number of brahmins in’ Bengal in the Gupta and post-Gupta inscriptions end

with suffixes such as Vasu, Ghosha, Datta, Dama, etc., which are today the surnames not of Bengalibrahmins but of Bengali Kayasthas. The absence of these surnames among the brahmins of theregion suggests that it was the case not of people of lower Varnas adopting the surnames of their superiors in a bid for upward mobility, but one of the formation of a caste through fissionof brahmin and non-brahmin kayastha families from their parent bodies and fusion into a casteof Kayastha. In other words, the Kayastha caste began to form as the families belonging to thisprofession started marrying among themselves and stopped marrying within their own original Jatisor tribes.

As you know, each Varna was associated with some specific functions; for instance,priestly functions were considered the preserve of brahmins. Historians have noted a remarkablechange in this matter during the transition, which is registered both in the brahmanical treatisesas well as attested by foreign observers. Agriculture, which was considered earlier generally thework of the Vaishyas, now comes increasingly to be seen as the occupation of the Shudras.However, the meaning of this is not easy to understand, or rather is capable of being understoodin at least three different ways. First, this has been interpreted as amounting to a markedimprovement in the status of the Shudras. From being slaves, servants, and agricultural labourersthey now become landholding peasants like the Vaishyas. Second, this may represent the declinein the status of peasantry as a result of extensive land grants. There was, it is said, such adowngrading of the Vaishya peasants that they were considered no different from the Shudras.


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Sometimes a certain ‘improvement’ in the status of women in early medieval times isperceived in the fact that they were allowed, like the Shudras, to listen to certain religious textsand worship deities. However, this seems to have served, by making them religious-minded, mainlyto strengthen the brahmanical religions and enhance the income of the officiating priests ratherthan to improve the quality of women’s lives. Much cannot also be made of the increase inthe scope of stridhana, i.e. the wealth that a women could receive as a gift, for this did littleto empower them in relation to men; their dependence and helplessness remained unaffected.While some authorities tried to get inheritance rights for the widow or daughter of a man dyingsonless, actual historical instances make it clear that their prescriptions were routinely disregardedin favour of the contrary opinion by the early medieval kings, who would confiscate the propertyof such persons except for some privileged few; this provision, however, like those againstwidow remarriage and advocating sati, did not apply to the women of Shudra Varna. In fact,as in the previous and following periods, women of the labouring masses, simply for the reasonthat they had to work in the fields, pastures, etc. along with men in order to keep body andsoul together, could not be subjected to the same kind of subordination and helplessness aswas the fate of women of the privileged classes.

CULTUREIt is for the multi-faceted cultural activities that the documentation in our period - literary

and monumental - is the richest, liveliest, and most vivid. It is best appreciated firsthand, visuallyvia the sites of monuments or by reading up the literature - through a colourfully illustratednarrative at a pinch - rather than through an investigation into the transitional aspects of it.However; such investigation helps us place the creative-aesthetic-scientific achievements of theage in their proper historical contexts, enriching our sensibilities thereby, and therefore comes invery useful whenever we decide to descend on the monuments or dive in the literature. Thereexists a highly technical and voluminous scholarly output on the different aspects of these activities,and, in the limited space at our disposal, we can do no more than describe some broad trends.

There were a number of significant linguistic developments. First, there was the onset and*growthof the third stage of Middle Indo-Aryan languages, i.e. the Prakrits [Old Indo-Aryan languagesinclude Classical and Vedic Sanskrit], from about AD 600. This third stage of the Middle Indo-Aryan is termed Apabhramsha by the linguists, out of which the New or Modern Indo-Aryanlanguages such as Hindi and Marathi began to evolve from the tenth century. Second, thepredominance of Sanskrit continued to grow as the official language of the states and one usedfor trans-provincial communication throughout the culture region of South and South-east Asia,apart from as a language of literature and religion; towards the end of our period even theJainas were beginning to give up their Ardha-Magadhi Prakrit in its favour. In the history of Sanskrit legal literature, our period marks a watershed, during which the last of the Smritis, theKatyayana Smriti, was composed, and towards the end of which the great tradition of Sanskritcommentaries on these Smritis made its first beginning with the commentary of Asahaya on the

Narada Smriti.

Third, there was the continuing ascent of Tamil along with the foundations of Kannadaand Telugu as a literary language. The growth of Tamil received a great fillip from the Bhaktimovement. Although no extant works can be ascribed to our period, epigraphic references aswell as the later literary ones show nevertheless that Kannada was flourishing as a literarylanguage, aided by state patronage and royal participation. For instance, Durvinita, who ismentioned as a celebrated literary figure of the language, was probably the sixth-century Ganga


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king Durvinita of southern Karnataka. As for Telugu, the discovery of fragments of an early texton prosody, called Janashraychhandas, points to a strong likelihood that its rise as a literarylanguage may have commenced as early as the first references to Telugu words in stone inscriptionsof the fifth and sixth century AD.

In the field of religion, the Puranic temple-based Brahmanical sects, about the nature andrise of which you have already read in the previous lessons, continued to be in the ascendant. Of these the Vaishnava and Shaiva sects were the most important. Taking the evidence of royalpatronage as an indicator, the various Shaiva sects appear to have been moving ahead of theVaishnava ones during our period.

A major new development of great importance was Bhakti movement in the Tamil south.The idea of bhakti or devotion to a deity was basic to most sects of the period, but it was inthe south during our period that it was invested with an unprecedented emotional intensity andbecame the focua of a powerful religious movement. It was espoused by both Shaiva saints calledNayanars and Vaishnava ones called Alvars. They journeyed extensively in propagation of theirfaith; debated with rivals; sang, danced and composed beautiful lyrics in praise of their deities; andconverted kings and commoners alike to their faith, exhorting them to bring disgrace to the other

faiths. Besides fulfilling the religious cravings of the people, the idea of bhakti served to tone downthe severity of the iniquitous caste system as well as helped, as the central doctrine of temple-based religiosity and in calling forth the unquestioning loyalty of the subjects, the monarchs to shoreup their rule.

There is a perceptible decline in some areas of Buddhism, which had gradually been fallingout of royal favour since the Gupta period. In many others, however, it continued to retain asubstantial presence. There was a century of lavish royal patronage by the Maitraka state of Saurashtra in the west, and in the east the importance of Nalanda reached its peak during this timeas the most outstanding of all the centres of Buddhist learning, to which some more like Vikramashila,Oddantapuri, and Somapura were added. In Gujarat and Rajasthan regions, Jainism too seems to

have done reasonably well among the people despite the dwindling royal support.It is in the South that the two religions lost out to Brahmanism in a major way, although

the Kannada territory remained a Jaina stronghold. There was never any love lost between themand the Brahmanical religions, and religious rivalry and persecution have long been identified asdistinct features of our age, despite a certain general reluctance to accept it and a rather desperatebid by some scholars to see nothing but religious tolerance and harmony. There were no doubtkings during these centuries who were evenhanded in their attitudes to the various religions, but sowere those with partisan views bordering on bigotry. For instance, the following quote from oneof the earliest studies on South Indian Jainism represents a standard view of the downfall of thefaith in the region, about which students of history tend to be unfamiliar these days:

The vast remains in South India of mutilated statues, deserted caves, and ruined templesat once recall to our mind the greatness of the religion in days gone by and the theological rancourof the Brahmins who wiped it out of all active existence. The Jains have been forgotten, theirtraditions have been ignored; but, the memory of that bitter struggle between Jainism and Hinduism,characterised by bloody episodes in the South, is constantly kept alive in the series of frescoes onthe wall of the mantapam of the Golden Lily Tank of the famous Minakshi Temple of Madura.... As though this were not sufficient... the whole tragedy is gone through at five of the twelveannual festivals at the Madura temple.


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Tantrism was well on way to becoming a salient feature of religious life all over thesubcontinent. In Tantrism the cult of female divinities, who were in general known as Tara inBuddhism and Shakti or Devi in Brahmanism, was combined with a set of esoteric beliefs andmagical practices. A graphic portrayal of Tantric religion is seen in the Harshacharita, where aSascetic from the South performs what may clearly be identified as a Tantric rite for Harsha’sancestor Pushpabhuti. The ascetic lived near an old temple of the Mothers (matri), and performeda fire-rite in the mouth of a corpse in an empty building near ‘a great cremation ground’ on thefourteenth night of the dark fortnight.

Among the other features of religious life in this period of transition, one was the comingof Islam on the west coast and in Sindh, and the other was the expansion of Christian communitiesfrom Malabar and some other places on the west coast in early sixth century to the east coastof ,the peninsula by the eighth.

Philosophy continued to be enlivened and enriched by debates and discussions. Apart fromthe six maj^r schools of philosophy in Brahmanism, there were, as you already know, three‘heterodox’, i.e. non-Brahmanical ones: Buddhist, Jaina, and Charvaka. No works of the Charvakashave come down to us and their views are known only through refutation by others. A major

representative of this school was Purandara, who probably lived in the seventh century and is knownto have composed texts on his school of philosophy. In the same century flourished Dharmakirti,the outstanding Buddhist philosopher. In Vedanta philosophy we have Gaudapada, who is reputedto have been Shankaracharya’s paramaguru, the teacher of his teacher. Some greatest names inMimamsa philosophy also belong to our period: Shabara, Prabhakara, and Kumarila.

In stone architecture, there were two major forms: rock-cut and structural. Rock architecture,as you probably already kno w, refers to the creation of architectural forms in living rock. Theserock-cut temples and monasteries usually look like artificial caves in hills and cliffs. These weredistinct from ‘structural’ architecture, which refers to building freestanding structures with dressed-stone (or brick) masonry. Occasionally these two forms could be combined, but normally they

remained separate, and have different chronological spans. Rock architecture, which over its longcareer was a virtually pan-South Asian phenomenon, goes back to the Mauryan period, but it isfrom about mid-fifth, century (beginning at Ajanta and Ellora) that it entered its most active phase.By the end of our period the great age of rock architecture in Indian art history was by and largedrawing to a close, even though its greatest achievement - the Kailasanatha temple at Ellora - comes

just after it. It was during these centuries that construction of structural buildings in stone and brickgot under way in an important way, but the really magnificent and classic phase of structural templesbegins after the age of rock architecture was over. Generally speaking, there was an overlap betweenthe two types of construction during our centuries, except in the south under the Pallavas, wherethe structural phase begins in the eighth century only after the rock-cut phase comes to an endin the seventh.

As the fine examples from Ajanta and Ellora testify, major advances were made as the artistsstopped imitating wooden prototypes and achieved increasing perfection of design and execution;in some instances, it has been observed, ‘lines are straighter, angles more correct, and surfaces moretrue than in any other examples’. Further, two monasteries at Ellora are the only examples we haveof three storeys in rock-cut art. Till about the end of the sixth century Buddhism largely dominatedthe rock-cut mode of architecture, and then gradually Brahmanism became more important, followedby Jainism. Despite the different religious affiliations, the architectural style remained common, expectfor some adaptation for ritualistic purposes.


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Examples of freestanding structures, built of stone or brick, are known from an earlierperiod. A most remarkable development of our period was the evolution of the typical brahmanicaltemple of the medieval era. The medieval temple was a very elaborate structure with several typicalfeatures. The process began, about the turn of the sixth century, with the addition of a tower calledshikhara to the flat roofs of the shrine-rooms of the Gupta period. The earliest examples of suchan addition come from Bhitargaon near Kanpur (brick) and Deogarh near Jhansi and Aihole nearBadami (stone). The remaining features were gradually added till about AD 740, when at theVaikunthanath Perumal shrine at Kanchipuram we see a combination of all the standard attributesof the medieval temple. The evolution occurred at different pace in various regions. For instance,an important stage in the evolution was the connection of the pillared assembly hall called mandapawith the sanctum by means of a vestibule called antarala. As late as AD 700 this had not becomea general practice as it is absent in both the Shore temple at Mamallapuram and the Kailasanathaat Kanchipuram (this Kailasanatha temple was used as an inspiration for the one at Ellora).

In sculpture, the classical tradition with its emphasis on fully rounded volume by and largecontinued. The medieval style, in which rounded volume and smooth convex lines give way to flatsurfaces and sharp curves, is seen occasionally in isolated examples, such as in a sixth-centuryfrieze at the Dhamek stupa at Sarnath, but it did not come into its own till a later period, andeven then remained confined to certain regions only.

The same is true of painting. It was quite a developed art by the onset of our period, andthe Vishnudharmottara Purana, a contemporary text from Kashmir, provides a detailed accountof its various aspects. Literary references show that there were both murals (paintings on walls andceiling) of different types in private homes, royal palaces, and religious places as well popularportable galleries of pictures drawn on textiles. However, although several examples of paintingsfrom our period have survived, they all are all murals in religious establishments. The best-preservedspecimens come from the sixth-century Buddhist caves (rock-cut halls) at Bagh in Madhya Pradesh,Ajanta, and Badami, the seventh-century rock-cut Jaina temple at Sittanavasal in Tamil Nadu (agood part of the extant paintings, it has now been found out, belong to the ninth century), andthe seventh-century Shaiva Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram. Outside India, Sigiri in Sri Lankafurnishes beautiful instances. The tradition of classical painting continued in all these and many othercases through the seventh century and beyond. In the classical mode, there was an attempt atthree-dimensional representation by employing several techniques, such as chiaroscuro (use of lightand shade by means of colour shades and tones). Through these centuries, however, the medievalstyle, which was to find a foothold in many regions, was also developing; it appears in an eighth-century Ellora painting with a completeness that suggests a long period of prior evolution. As insculpture, the classical and the medieval were to coexist in South Asia after our period.

In the scientific field, Brahmagupta is the most outstanding figure in our period. He madea number of seminal contributions in mathematics. He was the first mathematician in the worldto recognize negative numbers, which he presented as ‘debts’ in contrast to positive numbers,which he called ‘fortunes’. In many other ways he was ahead of the mathematicians of the time.For instance, one of his methods for proving Pythagoras’ theorem remained unknown to thewestern world till the seventeenth century. Astronomy was closely linked to mathematics, theword for the mathematician - ganaka - being also the term for the astronomer. Like his equallyeminent predecessor Aryabhata, Brahmagupta was thus an astronomer also. He headed a major


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observatory, and grappled with such questions as lunar and solar eclipses, conjunctions of themoving planets with each other as well as with fixed stars, etc.

However, although he was characteristically dazzling in applying mathematical techniquesto astronomy, Brahmagupta failed to achieve the same success in astronomy. He in fact stronglyargued for the wrong conclusion that the earth does not rotate on its axis. The reason for thiswas his inability to go beyond and question the religion-sanctioned knowledge. It has been shownhow Brahmagupta was prevented from achieving the same success in astronomy by thestranglehold of scriptural authority. Thus while he attempted a careful calculation of the diameterof the shadow of earth in order to see how the “moon is eclipsed by it, he also condemnedthe ‘heretics’ who mock and reject the view that the demon Rahu swallows celestial bodies!Evidently the same need to uphold religious authority led him to revile and reject Aryabhata’sfindings.

The Surya Siddhanta, which provided the basis of medieval astronomy in India fromthe fifth century onwards by replacing the Vedanga astronomy, continued to undergo gradualchanges; it was its later version, one that evolved between AD 628 and 960, that was to gainimmense popularity. In Tamil region, an old system of astronomical calculations by means of

certain numerical schemes continued as a parallel tradition, as distinct from the trigonometricaltradition of the Surya Siddhanta. Apart from Brahmagupta, Bhaskara I, who was a contemporaryof Brahmagupta and a disciple of the great Aryabhata, and Lalla (AD 748) were the leadingastronomers of our times.

In medicine, Vagbhata claimed, or was claimed, to have become the leading authorityfor his age, rendering superfluous the previous masters. There are two Vagbhatas, the first of whom wrote a treatise called the Ashtanga-sangraha, and who flourished in the seventh century

just before the visit of the Chinese pilgrim Yijing. Scholars place the other Vagbhata, the authorof Ashtanga-hrdaya-samhita, about a century later. Both were Buddhists, and thus bear witnessto the close links of Buddhism with the medical tradition; medicine was avidly studied in the

monasteries of Nalanda and Vikramashila.Conclusion

In this and the previous lesson, you have studied how the lives of people in early Indiawere being transformed in several significant ways over the two hundred odd years. Our concernwas with identifying the dynamics of change rather than providing a detailed description of economy, polity, society, and culture. For instance, no attempt has been made to give an accountof the numerous works of literature that were produced during these centuries. The purposehas been to discuss change, not narrate details.

You must not imagine, however, that the changes occurred in a uniform fashion all overthe subcontinent. The transition to the medieval era occurred at different points of time in different

spheres and regions, and the pace at which change occurred also varied. Moreover, historicalchange seldom occurs in a sweeping, wholesale fashion. Remnants of the past, including theremotest past, somehow manage to cling to us; the scientist D. D. Kosambi in fact would alwaysurge historians to detect clues to the past in the present. All the same, the patterns of changethat we have outlined above made early Indian society recognizably different about mid-eighthcentury from what it was about mid-sixth. As you read on, you shall see how the processesof transformation continued to operate in the times ahead.


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SUGGESTED READINGS

Agrawal, D.P. The Archaeology of India.

Alichin, F.R. and B. Origins of a Civilization. The Prehistory and each Archaeology of South Asia.

Basham, A.L. The Wonder That was India.

Chakrabarti, D.K. Archaeology of Ancient Indian Cities.

Chattopadhyay, B. Kushan State and Indian Society.

Gonda, J. Vishnuism and Shivasimed Corporation.

Gurukul Rajan Cultural History of Kerala.and M.R.R. Varrier

Huntington, S.L. The Art of Ancient India.

Jaiswal, Survira Caste, Origin, Function and Dimentions.Jha, D.N. Ancient Indian in Historical Outline (1998 edu.)

Kosambi, D.D. Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline.

Kulke, H. Historical Outline

Rothermund, D. A History of India.

Maity, S.K. Economic Life in Nothern India in the Gupta Period.

Margabandhu, C. Archaeology of Satavahana-Kshatrapa Times.

Moenakshi, C. Social Life and Administration under the Pallavas.

Ray, H.P. Monastery and Guild.

Ray Niharanjan Maurya and post Maurya Art.

Sastri, K.A.N. A History of South India.

Sharma, R.S. Perspective in Social and Economic History of Early India.

Sharma, R.S. Aspects of Political Ideas Institutions in Ancient India(1991 edu.)

Subramania, N. Sangam Policy.

Thapar, Romila History of early India.

Thapar, Romila Ashoka and the decline of the Mauryas (1997 edu.)

Yazdani, G. Early History of the Deccan.


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LESSON 2

INDIAN MERCHANTS IN OVERSEAS TRADE(8TH TO 15 TH CENTURIES)

Madhu Trivedi

The long standing economic image of Indian subcontinent as totally agrarian, especially inthe context of early medieval period, has changed considerably in the historical researches of recentpast. These researches show that there was an active non-agrarian sector of the traditional economythough it remained ‘firmly rooted to overarching agrarian material milieu’. 1 Sustained scholarly effortsalso show that urbanization, craft production and trade were quite visible in India up to c. AD1300. Economic historians, roughly from the middle of the 1980s, have highlighted the significanceof Indian Occean in the trading activities and linkages of India in the oceanic trade net-work.Their researches have successfully negated the widely believed stigma that Indians were averseto seafaring in order to retain their ritual purity, and such attitudes were available in the normative

Brahmanical law books, and at the most, these were probably applicable only to the priestlycommunity. On the contrary we find the existence of a ‘commercial economy that incorporatedmany societies of Eurasia and Africa’ and its economic impact was not insignificant in any way.Material milieu of Indian society of was undoubtedly agricultural and bulk of the Indian populationwas engaged in agriculture, yet trade (vanijyd) was also recognized as one of the major ingredientsof economic life from remote times. India’s role in the maritime network of Indian Occean wassubstantial.

The central position of India in the Indian Ocean

It may be pointed out here that in respect of maritime trade India enjoyed a unique position onthree counts: one, it had a vast landmass; two it was surrounded on three sides by the Indian Ocean;and lastly it had, along with Sri Lanka, a central position in Indian Ocean which undoubtedly dominatesthe sea-face of Asia.

Indian Ocean occupies almost 20% of maritime space. It includes in it two important sea-lanesin the west - The Red Sea and the Persian Gulf - and washes the sea coast of Africa. The eastern sectorof Indian Ocean is marked by the Bay of Bengal (but not the Java and the China Seas), and it stretchesup to the Antarctica in the south. In spite of the fact that the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans are largerthan the Indian Ocean, it is the Indian Ocean which has acted as a bridge amongst numerous communitiesof Asia and Africa over a very long period of time. This association has yielded far reaching resultsespecially in the context of maritime trade and has projected Asia as one of the leading maritime zone

of the world. It has also been instrumental in establishing unity between the maritime space and itsrelated landmass. The maritime historians have taken keen interest in delineating India’s position in theIndian Ocean affairs and establishing the maritime linkages in this maritime space.

1Ranabir Chakravarti, Visiting Faraway Shores: India’s Trade in the Western Indian Ocean, in Rajat Dutta’s, p.


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The historiographical gap in trade history

The existing historiography suggests three broad strands or areas of academic interests:

(1) The maritime linkages of Harrapan civilization (c. 2500BC -1750 BC) with Sumer andAkkad through the Persian Gulf.

(2) India’s flourishing sea-borne commerce with the Roman empire through the Res Sea (late1st century BC to AD 250)

(3) The changes in India’s maritime situation owing to the involvement of European tradingCompanies in the Indian Occean.

One may notice a historiographical gap for the maritime history of the period ranging from8th to 15 th centuries; a period which witnessed a transition from early medieval to medieval. It may bepointed out here that this period is considered as a period of crisis in social, economic and politicalspheres. According to some prominent historians of feudalism, such as R. S. Sharma, this periodespecially from 500 to 1000 AD marked the emergence and consolidation of self sufficient, enclose andstagnant village economy which was not favorable to trade, especially long-distance overseas trade. Thepaucity of trade led to urban decay and the attendant ‘monetary anemia’. Although they agree that therewas a revival of trade including the maritime trade in India from 1000 AD onwards. This concept of sharp decline in the overseas commerce in early medieval India has given view to the relatively languishingrole of India in the trade of Indian Ocean. This formulation was contested by K. N. Chaudhury.According to him written evidences bring out an entirely different image of the overseas trade in theeighth and ninth centuries and reflect that trade was not languishing during the early medieval period ashas been assumed by the historians of feudalism. Indian merchants not actively participated in the IndianOcean commerce; they played an important role in it.

Sources for the history of overseas trade during 8th to 15 th centuries

A large number of Sanskrit inscriptions and indigenous literary texts, Arabic and Persian accounts,Chinese texts, the account of the Italian traveller Marco polo (late thirteenth century), and the lettersof the Jewish merchants trading with India provide information for the history of overseas trade for theearly medieval period. However, the information offered by these sources should be cautiously handledwhich is ‘hardly adequate, often scattered and stereotyped and offer little statistical data’ and thesesources belong to the category of ‘qualitative sources’. However, this fact does not in any wayundermine their importance as source of history of the Indian overseas trade during the period underreview. The letters of Jewish merchants, known to us as Genizah documents, are particularly importantin this regard. They highlight the activities of travellers of India (musafirun ul Hind), which generallybelonged to the trading community. These letters ‘enable us to hear the voices of the merchants who

actually participated in the Indian Ocean trade; they also occasionally provide some statistical information’.The Arab travelers and merchants were also frequenting the water sector of Indian Ocean. It isconfirmed by the descriptions of the first Arab invasion in early eighth century, narrated in a later sourceChachnama which point to the direct voyages between Daibul and Sri Lanka.

2 For details see Ranabir Chakravarti, of cit. p.


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enterprises extended from Tunisia and Levant to Egypt and Aden, trom where they sailed to Indianports on the west coast. The account of their activities is found in the trade documents known asGenizah papers.

The growth of trade in the Persian Gulf around 10 th century

The establishment of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad facilitated the growth of trade in thePersian Gulf. Initially the premier port in the Persian Gulf was Siraf which, however, languished in thelate eleventh century and later on Kish or Qays acquired great prominence. The most important portin this maritime space was Hormuz which emerged as the premier port in the western Indian Oceancommerce during the thirteenth century. After the rise of Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt in 965 the Red Seanetwork acquired prominence. It further established linkages with the vibrant Mediterranean maritimetrade through Egypt which acted like a pivot between the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.

The premier ports of the eastern Indian Ocean

Both the sectors of western and eastern India Ocean were dotted with numerous ports. A largenumber of these ports owed their origin and prosperity to the maritime trade in the Indian Ocean. This

phenomenon is noticeable from the eighth century onwards.Indus delta: The most important port in the Indus delta was Daybul which had certainly prosperedin the new scenario. It seems to be well connected with Multan and Mansura on one hand and alsowith the Makran coast on the other.

Gujarat: In the Gujarat coast a new port, Stambatirtha/Stambhak came into prominence during theperiod under review. This famous port, today known to as Cambay, figures in the Arab accounts asKanbaya and Kambaya. According to V. K. Jain the rise of the Chalukyas as a regional power of Gujarat paved the way for the integration of the coast with the extensive interior by a number of overland routes. 3 There were some other factors which facilitated the growth of trade in the region andcontributed greatly to the prosperity of the ports of Gujarat:

(1) Gujarat experienced tremendous agricultural growth in the early medieval period.(2) There is the emergence of a new type of exchange centre in western India, especially in Gujarat,Rajasthan, Malwa, and the region which now forms the western part of modern Uttar Pradesh. It wasknown as mandapika (modern mandi).

This meant that the ports on the Gujarat coast commanded a vast hinterland for commerce andthey maintained coastal linkages with ports in the Konkan and Malabar, and most importantly withHormuz in the Persian Gulf. It was also well served by a few smaller ports in the vicinity. Divi (Diu)was another important port from where ships sailed to Aden. It was well connected with Kanara coastand Aden. Another prominent port was Somnath. According to Al Biruni it was the vintage point of departure for Zanz or Zanzibar in east Africa. A bi-lingual inscription (in Arabic and Sanskrit of 1264

proves that Somnath was well connected with Hormuz and received ships regularly from here.Konkan: Towards the south of Gujarat lay the narrow strip of Konkan region dotted withnumerous ports. Amongst these Sristhanaka (thana) was of great eminence. Others wereCandrapur which is mentioned as Sindabur in Arabic sources (modern Chandaur), andGopakapattana (modern Goa), and Chaul (referred as Saimur). As is evident from the Sanskrit

3 V.K. Jain, Trade and Traders in Western India AD 1000-1300, Delhi, 1989.


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inscriptions, Arabic texts and Jewish business letters, these ports were less prosperous and prominentthan the ports of Gujarat although geographically these ports were located in the most advantageousarea in the harbour building. It was probably because of the fact that neither they had rich hinterlandat their command nor they had linkages with the interior because of the geographical barriers betweenthe coast and the mainland. These ports were, however, engaged in looping coastal commerce. TheSanskrit inscriptions of Kadamba rulers mention about the long voyages from around Goa to Somnathin Kathiawad. They also derived substantial advantages from their linkages with Persian Gulf commerce.

These ports of Konkan witnessed regular settlements of Arab merchants referred as Tajjikasin the Sanskrit inscriptions. Al Masudi noted the presence of large number of Omani, Sirafi andBaghdadi merchants at the port of Chaul.

Malabar: The prominent ports of Malabar, the southernmost section of the western sea-board, wereKulam Mali (Quilon), Panatalyani, Kollam, and Calicut. The Malabar ports had an advantageoussituation to their credit that they could be reached from both the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea portsby utilizing the south western monsoon around thirty days. These ports handled the invaluable cargo of spices, especially the pepper. Amongst the Malabar ports Calicut attained immense glory during the

fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Ibn Battuta speaks about Calicut in glorious terms. According to himthe huge Chinese junks did not sail further west of Calicut, and that Calicut provided excellent transshipmentfacilities for Chinese and Arab vessels.

Eastern Indian Ocean

Significant developments occurred in the patterns of trade in early medieval centuries in theexpansion of maritime activity in the eastern water of the Indian Ocean and the China Sea. The oldsilk-route, a major trade route for commerce with the Roman world, of China had been cut off; andfrom the seventh century onwards maritime connection developed between China and the Persian Gulf.The maritime activities were greatly increased in South East Asia under strong Hindu and Indian

Buddhist influence. Also, there is the entry of Indian merchants into direct trading with China. Malipatan, Negapatan, and Kaveripatan were the prominent ports of this sector. The Chinese sources showthat in the early twelfth century_,thg_major portion of the export trade was in the ships of the Klingmerchants of Coromandel and Ceylon. Shortly” afterwards these were outclassed by the Chinese junks(vessels) which started plying in the Indian Ocean and visiting Indian ports. During the thirteenth andfourteenth century no traveler could think of travelling to and from China except in these Junks. TheChinese junk of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was technically the most advanced and seaworthy vessel of its period.

By the end of 1175 the common pattern of transshipment of commodities was set. The ArabianSea ships sailed to the ports of Malabar and Coromandel in dhow, a variety of vessel of non-Arab

origin. Then the passengers and commodities of the dhows were exchanged with the junks plying in theEastern Indian Ocean. In the earlier pattern, during the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, the goodswere transferred from the Arab vessels to Kling bottoms in south India.

Exchange of commodities/ pattern of export and import

Our sources show that these ports were actively involved in the exchange of commodities, such as strategic war-animals, spices and medicaments, toys (works of arts andcraft), rarities, and exotic textiles, and base metals for brass industry. Among the perennial


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export items of India were various types of textiles of Gujarat, Malwa, and Bengal. Textile productsranged from the famous muslins of Bengal to ordinary cotton meant for daily necessity. 4 Precious gemsand stones formed a favourite item of export. Amongst spices, the pepper of Malabar was highly prized.The Genizah papers of Jewish merchants inform about the regular shipments of pepper from MalabarCoast and it fetched high price. It was exported in large quantities from Malabar to Aden, and fromthere through the Red Sea to Egypt. From Egypt pepper finally reached the Italian ports by voyagesacross the Mediterranian. Aloe wood and teak was in high demand in west Asia, especially Indian teakwhich was regularly exported to Persian Gulf and .Red Sea ports as the basic raw material for buildingships for Arab merchants. The Genizah letters tell us about the shipment of various types of iron fromthe ports of Malabar to Aden during the period from eleventh to thirteenth centuries. Indigo was alsoregularly sent to the ‘west’.

The impressions of Ibn Battuta and a Chinese writer Ma huan reveal that that Bengal shippedrice to Maldives which in return sent out cowry shells which functioned as a major currency not onlyin eastern India, but also in some places on east and west coast of Africa. The cowry currency waspart and parcel of Indian Ocean economy of the pre modern times and it was used as small exchangesin the maritime net work of Indian Ocean.

India received exotic spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, camphor and gems especially rubyas well as sandal from Sri Lanka and south-east Asia as imports many of which were further shippedto the ‘western’ destinations. This suggests India’s participation in transit trade. Indian imports certainlyincluded precious metals, especially gold and silver. These metals were generally preferred by Indianmerchants as form of payment for their commodities. Copper was also brought to India from west Asia.Silk was also imported from Aden.

There was great demand for war horses from Arabia and Pars. It may be noted here that goodquality war horses, called Tatari, were regularly imported from the central Asian steppe regions. Thesewere brought to India by overland routes through the northwestern borderlands of the subcontinent.From the eleventh century onwards horses of excellent quality began to arrive from Arabia and Parsby overseas transportation. These horses, described as bahri (sea-borne) in Arabic and Persian sources,

were imported in large quantity at enormous price - each fetching a price of over 200 gold coins.According to Marco polo every year ten thousand horses were shipped to Pandya kingdom alone fromthe ports like Shihr, Kish, Hormuz, and Aden. The Malabar Coast served as the entry point of thesebahri horses and the Tamil horse-dealers were engaged in the distribution of these horses to distantpower centres.

During the fourteenth century large quantities of luxury textiles were imported from the IslamicNear East for the consumption at the court of Delhi sultans. Chinese silk and Chinese porcelain werealso imported in large quantity for them.Merchant communities

The merchant communities included nakhudas (ship captains), nauvittakas (ship-owners),and navikakarmakaras (sailors) besides the merchants involved in the transshipment trade whichincluded small traders for which the peddler term is used. The big traders stayed at the baseof operation. The captaincy of ships over vast distances required nautical skills and experiencefor which Arabs, Indians, Malays, and Chinese ship captains (nakhudas) were available who werehighly esteemed. The Indian merchants involved in the overseas trade were very rich and manyof these were ship owners. This is not only true of the western sector of the Indian Ocean, theTamil merchants were also very prosperous, especially the ship-owning merchants. The

4 Lallanji Gopal, Economic Conditions in Northern India AD 750-1200, Delhi, 1965.


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merchants were undoubtedly the key players in the maritime network of the Indian Ocean. Indianmerchants did undertake overseas voyages both in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal.

Jewish merchants had an active role in the coastal network along the western sea-board andhad a prominent role in India trade. The Jewish and Muslim merchants engaged in Indian Ocean tradehardly faced religious intolerance. Al Masudi noted in the in the early tenth century that Muslimmerchants were given excellent support by the Rashtrakuta rulers to the extent that they were allowedto construct mosques in the port town of Konkan. A bilingual inscription tells about the construction of a majigiti (masj id/mosque) in Somnath where Islamic festivals were celebrated which were typicallyassociated with nakhudas, nauvittakas (ship-owners), and navikakarmakaras (sailors). The merchantcommunities in the Indian Ocean ‘played as bridges among different ethnic groups and religious faith’.

We may conclude by saying that Indian Ocean had already become a much frequented maritimezone long before the arrival of Portuguese in the late fifteenth century. The trade activities in the IndianOcean were precipitated around the tenth century and Indian Ocean was a ‘theatre’ of merchants,sailors and even pirates. Indian ports on western and eastern sectors had all the hustle bustle of a busycommercial life. The political powers, undoubtedly, were greatly benefited from the immense overseatrading activities in the vast maritime space, but they did not consider it an arena to establish their

authority as may be witnessed in the venture of the European trading companies from about thesixteenth century.

Reading List

B. D. Chattopadhaya, The Making of Early Medieval India. Delhi, 1994.

Lallanji Gopal, Economic Conditions in Northern India AD 750-1200, Delhi, 1965.

Ranabir Chakravarti, Visiting Faraway Shores: India’s Trade in the Western Indian Occean, in RajatDutta’s,.

Ranabir Chakravarti, Trade in Early India, New Delhi, Manohar, 2002.

Tapan Raychaudhuri and Man Habib (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of India, c. 1200-1750, Vol. 1, Delhi, 1982.

V. K. Jain, Trade and Traders in Western India AD 1000-1300, Delhi, 1989


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LESSON 3

REGIONAL STYLES OF ARCHITECTURE(8TH TO 12 TH CENTURIES)

Madhu Trivedi

The period from eighth to twelfth centuries marks an important phase in the history of art and architecture. In one respect it is an age of culmination and ultimate exhaustion of theearliest tendencies and movements in architectural styles and forms. In another, it marks the usheringof a new age which is particularly connected with the temple building. It is a creative and formativeage, associated with the foundation of the typical styles of Indian temple architecture. It was forthe reason that worship of Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva was becoming popular during the time. TheAlvar and Nayannar saints popularized the worship of Vishnu and Shiva respectively from the seventhcentury onwards. Brahmanism had come to the forefront since the Gupta period. Idol worshipbecame a common feature of Hinduism. The images of Shiva and Vishnu, and some other godsappeared for the first time in the free standing temples - the brick temple of Bhitargaon and Deogarhin Jhansi. The chief diety appeared in the middle with his retainers all around, who are drawnon the panel on a smaller scale to suggest distinction and hierarchy. During this periomany featuresof Hinduism were incorporated in Buddhism.

Cave architecture

Rock-cut excavations represent an aspect of Indian architecture that had been characteristic of earlier period. Most of these belong to the Buddhist faith, though Brahmanical and Jain establishmentsof this type are not rare.

Buddhist caves

The rock-cut architecture of the Buddhists, as in the earlier period consists of two conventionaltypes - the chaitya hall (the shrine proper), and the sangharama or the vihar (the monastery). The mostnotable groups are found in Ellora in Aurangabad, and also in Elephanta Island.

The cave architecture, especially of the chaitya hall retains the plan of its prototypes but withextensive changes in the ornamentation of the fa9ade and in the designs of pillar in the interior. Thecarvings and decoration are much richer in design and execution and except in some cases the emphasison wooden form and techniques had disappeared. The wealth of carving is not intended for decorationonly, but also for reducing the weight of the solid rock wherein the chaitya hall was excavated. The mostsignificant innovation was the wealth of figure sculptures both in the exterior as well as in the interiorspace in contrast to the plain exteriors of the earlier period. In fact, there is an excess of figure sculpture.However, the fa?ade undoubtedly is a further development of earlier times. Cave no. X in Ellora, knownas the Vishvakarma cave, represents one of the latest examples of the chaitya hall of the excavated typeand it marks a significant stage in the history of this kind of shrines.

At Ellora the excavations consist of three series of caves - Buddhist, Brahmanical, and Jain.Amongst the Buddhist caves the three storied caves are the most imposing. It is noted for the beautyof its fa9ade, rising to a height of nearly fifty feet, rich profusion of sculptures in the interior and thebalance and consistency of design.


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Brahamanical caves

The Brahamanical caves at Ellora date from about AD 650.These are sixteen in number. Thefar famed Kailash (no. XV) is considered the most important. It is an extensive establishment entirelyexcavated out of the rock in imitation of the celebrated Kailashnath temple or Rajasimhashvara atKanchipuram.

These caves are divided in three different types:The first is represented by the Dashavatara cave which closely follows the design of the

Buddhist vihara and appears to be the earliest among the Brahamanical caves of the site and plannedin the rows of cells around a central court. However, it has a unmistakably Brahmanical connotationin the form of a detached mandapa formed out of the rock in the centre of the courtyard.

In the second type, there is a variation that in it ‘the shrine proper forms distinct componentwith a processional corridor around it.’ The second type is represented best by the Ravana ka khaiand Rameshwara caves. They indicate a parallel line of development in caves of the Buddhist andBrahmanical religions.

In the third type, which appears to date from the second half of the eighth century AD, maybe recognized in the Dhumar Lena. It is the last and the finest in the series of the Brahamanical cavesin Ellora. It consists of a cruciform hall having more than one entrance to court and with a shrinestanding isolated within it. The Dhumar Lena is noted for the ‘gracefulness of its pillars and sculptures’as well as ‘its architectural arrangement’.

The Brahmanical cave in the island of Elephanta near Bombay is similar to Dhunar Lena, ingeneral arrangement though much smaller and irregular. However, in the beauty and quality of itssculpture it excells the Dhumar Lena; these are regarded as marvels of plastic art. It is to be noted thatBrahamanical cave excavations were inspired by the Buddhists. But their unsuitability for Brahamanicalworship of images was more and more felt and monolithic shrines became popular.

Jain caves

The Jain caves were ‘similar, in plan and other arrangements’ to the Buddhist and Brahamanicalcaves. The most notable group of Jain caves are to be found in Ellora and these are not earlier than800 AD. Of these chhota Kailas, Indra Sabha, and Jagannath Sabha are important specimens.

With the Jain caves at Ellora the long persisting tradition of cave architecture cease for allpractical purposes. The rock-cut technique was given up in favour of the structural method whichprovided immense scope to the builder.

Structural Buildings

Temples

The structural temples, which were constructed for the enshrinement of the deity, differwith the cave temples in details of form and general appearance. Various types and forms wereexperimented until significant forms were chosen for further elaboration and final crystallization.It may be pointed out here that the temples constructed during the Gupta period heralded thetwo important styles - Nagara and Dravida. The cruciform and the Rekha tower which formthe distinctive feature of the Nagara style already made appearance in the deshavtara templeof Deogarh and the brick temple of Bhitargaon. The square shape of the Nagara style also


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originated during this period. Similarly we can also witness many characteristics of the Dravidastyle.

Formation of the traditional temple style

The Indian Shilpashastra recognizes three main temple styles known as Nagara, Dravida

and Vesara. The Nagara style was prevalent in the region between Himalayas and the Vindhaya.While the Dravida style flourished in that part of the country lying between the Krishna river andcape Kanyakumari. The temples erected in this region are sharply distinguished from each other,both in respect of ground plan and elevation. The Vesara style, also known as the Chalukyan style,flourished between the vindhyas and the Krishna river. This style is hybrid one, borrowing elementsand features both from the Nagara and the Dravida style. It is difficult to make an idea of thecharacteristics forms and features on the basis of the Shilpa texts and one has to depend on theextent of the extant monuments.

The Nagara style

The Nagara style has its origin in the structural temples of the Gupta period, especially the Dashavtara temple of Deogarh and the brick temple of Bhitargaon. A study of northern Indiantemples reveals two distinct features of the Nagara style - one in planning and other in elevation.The plan is square with a number of gradual projections in the middle of each side which impartsit a cruciform shape. In elevation it exhibits a tower (shikhara) gradually inclining towards in aconvex curve. The projections in the plan are also carried upwards to the top of the shikhara.Thus, there is a strong emphasis on vertical lines in elevation. For this region it is also called therekha shikhara. By the eighth century the Nagara style emerges in its characteristic form. The

Nagara style exhibits distinct varieties in elaboration. The temple belonging to the Nagara style of architecture may be seen from the Himalaya to the north of Bijapur district in the south, from thePunjab in the west to Bengal to the east. As a result, there are local variations and ramifications

in the formal development of the style in the different regions. Such variations are cause by localconditions, by different directions in development as well as assimilation of unrelated trends. However,the cruciform plan and the curvilinear tower are common to every Nagara temple.

The Dravida style

The Dravida temple is an adaptation of the earlier storied of the Gupta temple, enrichedfurther by the addition of new elements in the matter of detail. The outstanding and the commoncharacteristics of the Dravida style is the pyramidal elevation of the tower (vimari), which consists

of a multiplication of storey after storey slightly reduced than the one below, ending in a domicalmember, technically known as the stupi or stupica. The storey in the later period became moreand more compressed so much so that they are almost hidden under a profusion of details whichbecame characteristic of the subsequent evolution of the style. In plan the Dravida temple presentsa square chamber as the sanctum cell within the square enclosure serving as the pradakshina(circumambulatory passage). The pillared halls and corridors, and the immense gopurams (gateways)are the additions of the later date to the Dravida temples.


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The Vesara

The Vesara, also known as the Chalukan style owing to the fact that the Chalukas of Badamiconstructed numerous temples, as many as about seventy in number from about the seventh centuryonwards in this style. It has two principal components, the vimana and the mandapa in the fashionof the Drayada style. Sometimes these temples have an additional open mandapa in front. The vimana

is ‘surmounted by a pyramidal tower of storied elevation with a dome-shaped crowning member’, whilethe manadapa are covered with a flat roof supported on pillars. In later compositions the height of thestoried stages of the vimana are ‘compressed’ as may be found in the Dravida style. However, thereare some architectural features which show ‘an inspiration from the nagara shikhara’ , especially the‘ornamental niche motifs, repeated one above the other up the ascent of the tower stimulate the verticalbands of the northern spire’. Another divergence from the Dravida style is that the mandapas areusually wider than the vimanas. There seems to be blending of the Dravida and Nagara ‘conceptionsin the treatment of the exterior walls’. The walls are ‘broken up by ratha offset’ which is a characteristicof the Nagara fashion. These are ‘further spaced at regular intervals by pilasters in accordance withthe usual Dravida mode’. Also, the temples of this style retain a distinct Dravida shape. According toS. K. Saraswati the temples of this style ‘represent one of the most ornate and florid expressions of

Indian architecture.’The style reaches its maturity and supreme expression in the twelfth century. According to Henry

Cousens the most significant temples of this style is the Kashivishveshvara at Lakhundi. 5 Each doorwayis a perfect example of delicate and intricate chiselling and some of the bands are so undercut that theyresemble fine filigree or lace work. This temple has been rightly regarded as ‘one of the most eminentproduction of decorative architecture’. These temples owe ‘their character more to the sculptors thanto the masons’.

Exotic type

Apart from the Nagara, Dravida, and Vesara styles there are types of structures which are‘entirely exotic in shape or form’. Specimens of this style may be seen in Kashmir; Lalitaditya Muktapida(AD 724- 769) inaugurated an era of building activity in the Kashmir valley.

The typical Brahmanical temple in Kashmir has a distinction of its own. It has a ‘distinctly un-Indian appearance’ which is emphasized by its pillars, the treatment of wall-surface, and the elevationof its superstructure. It is peripteral in composition (having a single row of pillars on all sides in the styleof the temples of ancient Greek). It is situated within a quadrangular court enclosed by a peristyle of cells and approached by one or three porticoes. ‘The portico itself is a monumental composition andthe peristyle a broad and imposing conception in the fashion of the Buddhist establishments’. It has adouble pyramidal roof obviously derived from the usual wooden roofs common in Kashmir. The pillarsare fluted and surmounted with capitals of quasi-Doric order. One of the earliest and most impressivemonuments is the sun-temple of Martand, built by Lalitaditya and this appears to be the modeled for

the subsequent ones.6

5 For details see Henry Cousens, Architectural Antiquities of Western India, London, 1928, p. 17.6 For details see R. C. Kak, Ancient monuments of Kashmir, London, 1933.; James Fergusson,

History of Indian and Eastern Artchitecture, London, p. 187; Percy Brown, Indian Architecture,


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Regional developments of the Nagara style

Orissa: Of all the developments of the Nagara style that of Orissa is one of the most remarkable. Thebuilding activity centred round the sacred city of Bhuvaneshvara, a temple town which alone containshundreds of temples, large and small. According to Fergusson these temples form ‘one of the mostcompact and homogeneous architectural groups in India’ and may be said to represent, to some extentthe ‘a pure form of the original Nagara style’. They remain nearest to the original archetype (model).One important feature which imparts distinction to the Orissan temple is the fact that Orissa had its owncanon of architecture conformed by the local craftsmen. They refined and elaborated the plain earlyform of the Nagara temple into a typically Orissan one. Beginning with triratha, the plan is dividedinto the pancharatha, saptaratha, and even navaratha 1 There was an extra emphasis on decorativedetails which consisted of ‘rich and elegant mouldings, pilasters, niches and figures - human, animal, andcomposite’. The majestic temple of Lingarqja at Bhuveneshwara represents the Orissan type of templein its full maturity and highly appreciated for its majestic grandeur, proportions, its elegant carvings, andheight and volume. The famous temple of Jagannatha is another impressive and massive example of the typically Orissan style.

The celebrated sun temple at Konarka, built in the AD 1238-64, is a ‘noble conception initiated

by a master mind and executed and finished by a master architect 1 and it represents the crystallized andaccumulated experience of several hundred years. The temple is designed in the form of a chariot,drawn on exquisitely carved wheels drawn by a team of seven spirited horses. At Konarka theextraordinary genius of the architect and sculptor were combined. There is a profusion of carving. Theintricate treatment of the walls with figures and decorative motifs of varied nature create the effect of sculptural magnificence.

Central India: Temples in this region present significant varieties in contrast to the unilateral Orissantype. One may notice the transition of the archaic shikhar form of the fifth century A D to the Nagaraform of the eighth century in this region. There are certain distinct traits of the central Indian temple:

(1) It is usually saptharatha in plan.

(2) There is a clustering of the anga-shikharas all around the body of the main tower whichimparts it the plasticity and volume.(3) Invariably two amalakas crown the shikharas as well as those of the anga-shikharas;

it is a singular characteristic of the Central Indian temple.(4) The vestibule (antarala) and pillared audience hall (mandapd) occupy an important place

in the regular temple scheme of this region.(5) Columns and pillars have an important place in the architectural scheme. Roofs are

supported on pillars which are usually worked with exquisite carvings providing a richlyornamented look to the interiors. These halls stand on high terrace.

The Kandaria mahadeo temple at Khajuraho represents the most notable creation of this style.The Khajuraho temples, 30 temples in all large and small dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu, and Jain tirthankaras,were constructed between Ad 950 and 1050. In plan and elevation they are all alike and distinguishedby certain details.

Temples of circular shape and plan were also constructed in central India. This type is bestrepresented by a temple at Gurgi Masaun near Rewa which was constructed about the middle of thetenth century.

7 The term ratha denotes vertical section.


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Rajputana: In plan, shape and its appearance the early Rajputana temples resembles the temples of the Nagara style. The distinctive type of the early Rajputana temple differs very little from a typicallycentral Indian one. A clustered arrangement of the anga-shikharas all around the body of the maintower is also a characteristic of the typical Rajputana temple. However, it lacks many of the featuresof the central Indian type. In Rajputana the three-fold division (trirathd), an early characteristic of the

Nagara type was retained to the last. In other places we find pancharatha and saptaratha temples.The disposition of pillars and toranas is a distinguishing feature of Rajputana temples also found inGujarat especially of later period. Another feature is the disposition of the pillars in the centre of themandapa hall supporting the shallow dome; this feature emerges in the eleventh century in the mostdeveloped type of this region and represented best by the Jain temples of Mount Abu. These templesare noteworthy for the exuberance of the ornamental details minutely wrought in white Makaranamarble. There is like ‘a shell-like treatment of marble’ as per as delicacy of the workmanship isconcerned. The temples of Adinath and Neminath, constructed in the 11 th and 12 th centuries, representthe sculptural magnificence at its best, especially the carving in the domed ceiling which resemblesfiligree work in metal.

Gujarat and Kathiawar: The development of the Nagara style in this region, to a very great extent,

is closely allied to that in Rajputana. This striking affinity was due to two geographical proximity as wellas due to the fact that the temple building in western India was confined to a hereditary class of templebuilders known as Salats. However, are some temples in Kathiawar which have some architecturalfeatures which are not found in the Nagara style. For instance, a temple at Gop, considered to be theoldest structural temple in the region, contain chaitya windows. It shows the continuity and combinationof the Buddhist and Brahmanical traditions as well as cave and structural temples.

Deccan: Temples of the Nagara style are found as far as south as the Krishna and Tungabhadra basinand may be divided in two groups. One is confined to southern Deccan while the temples of othergroups are scattered over the western part of the Upper Deccan mainly in Khandesh and its adjacentarea. The temples in this region are not a pure representation of the Nagara style; they represent twomovements in respect of stylistic progress - the Nagara and Dravida. In fact the Krishna-Tungbhadrabasin seems to be a meeting ground of the two well defined Nagra and Dravida styles. The Chalukanstyle originated from the blending of the two and in spite of its hybrid origin it maintained its distinctness.

Upper belt of northern India: Very few temples survive in the regions of the upper belt of northernIndia. One major reason was the iconoclast fury of the Muslim conquerors. A few dilapidated monumentsin brick in the Utter Pradesh are found to exhibit the characteristics of the early Nagara design for theirpreference for a circular shape. However, in the Himalayan region are found several temples decidedlyof the early Nagara conception. In west Bengal and the adjoining region also the same conception isillustrated by a few monuments.

In the absence of any magnificent regional manifestations or style it is not easy to trace thedevelopments of the Nagara conception of temple building in any of these regions like the Orissan, theCentral Indian, the Solanki, or the Deccani.

Reading List

Henry Cousens, Architectural Antiquities of Western India, London, 1928.

James Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, vol. II.

R. C. Kak, Ancient monuments of Kashmir, London, 1933.

R. C. Majumdar & others, The Struggle for Empire, vol. V, Bombay, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan.


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LESSON 4

POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS(8TH-12TH CENTURIES)

Political condition

India after the death of Harsha (606-647) saw the rapid disintegration of his empire. The wholeempire of Harsha, which covered a large part of northern India, was split up into numerous kingdoms.The common feature of these kingdoms was the rapid growth of a system which has been called bythe modern scholars as feudalism.

Feudalism originated in the Gupta period. In the subsequent years which followed the eclipse of theGupta empire the spread of feudalism was quite noticeable and during this period “military governorshipwas conferred on important chiefs.” We are further told : “In the age of Harsha and of imperial Kanauj,high ranking civil as well military offices came to be bestowed upon persons holding feudal title.” Thus,feudalism, which became a dominant productive system during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, hadoriginated and spread much before the invasions of the Turks.

Rise of Feudalism

In the period under review feudalism became a universal phenomenon, particularly in NorthernIndia. Recently two outstanding research works, Indian Feudalism by R.S. Sharma, and Society andCulture in the Northern India by Prof. B.N.S Yadav, have thrown ample light on the various aspectsof feudalism. B.P. Mazumdar’s The Socio-Economic History of Northern India also provides us valuableinformation on this problem. B.P. Mazumdar calls this period “as the hey day of feudal anarchy.” Thewritings of D.N. Jha and K.M. Shrimali also deserve our attention.

One of the significant features of the prevailing political system was the complete fragmentation of political power from top to bottom. The basic changes in the economic structure and relationship didhave their implications on the political structure. With the shifting of economic power to the vassals thesupreme political authority i.e., the king was not in a commanding position to concentrate all politicalpower in his hand. The result was obvious K.M. Shrimali rightly points out :

“The growing bardic sycophancy, however, had begun to create an aura around kings, treating themas rulers of rulers and ascribing divinity to them. As a result of this image building the king wasincreasingly becoming more of a private person than the real head of the state.”

The vassal was usually called as samanta, rauta, thakkur, etc. The vassal was granted land by theruler. In lieu of this land grant he was expected to send military contingent to the ruler. Apart from thisobligation the samanta was left free with full powers to administer his territories. If the samanta remainedloyal to the fuller and committed to his military obligations there was no interference from the above.However, the division of political power was not restricted to this level alone. Feudal lords had theirown sub-vassals. The increase in the number and power of these samantas and sub-samantas weakenedthe central authority. It resulted in the emergence of a political system which deprived the ruler of administrating his territory directly and effectively. Prof. Mohammad Habib thus remarks :

“the strength of Hindustan was divided among a multitude of factious Rais, Sub Rais, local chiefsand village headmen, between whom anything like sensible co-operation was impossible.”

Weak Administration

With the emergence of a new political order, which saw the sharing and shifting of political authority,the need of making the central administration really imposing was no longer there. The role of centre was


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rapidly marginalized. As already stated the land was assigned to the samantas, which provided a solidbase for their political power; the rulers were reduced to a nominal position and virtually lost the powerto intervene effectively in the affairs of the territories that were under the control of the samantas.Whatever structure that existed at the top was retained nominal. Under these prevailing conditionsnothing was done to gear up the administrative machinery. The more powerful rulers concentrated theirenergies on settling scores with their neighbours. Continuous warfare did not give them any opportunityto look seriously into the administrative problems.

Left practically free the samantas had framed their own rules and regulations and conducted theaffairs of their territories in their own way. The multiplicity of the administration within a state createda complex situation : all this finally led to the weakening of the entire administrative machinery.

Out-dated Military System

Moreover, the approach of the Indian rulers to the military system was out-dated. While the Turkshad raised well-trained standing army consisting mainly of the cavalry the Indian rulers were religiouslysticking to the traditional methods of warfare.

The army of an Indian ruler consisted largely of the troops supplied by his vassals or the samantas.

Obviously such an army supplied from various pockets could not work in cohesion in a battlefield. Theidea of raising a standing army remained more or less alien to the Indian rulers. Further, these rulersneglected their cavalry. A fragmented and slow-moving army was hardly an answer to the well-trainedhorses of the Turks.

Social Condition

The society was divided into exploiters and exploited. The exploiters constituted the ruling class.They controlled the means of production (land) and lived a prosperous and luxurious life. The exploitedwere the toiling masses, who worked day and night only to lead a life of semi-starvation or nearstarvation. Besides this a peculiar feature of Indian society was the caste system.

Caste System

In the initial state of its development perhaps the caste system was not socially very rigid. But indue course of time the caste system shunned its flexibility and it had become stiff. This is specially truein the case of early medieval India. This change took place perhaps because of the intensification of the contradictions between the upper castes and the lower castes. The former tried to make the caste-system more and more suited to their class interests. But on the other hand the discontent of lowercastes resulted in popular movements. The role of Buddhism is quite significant. It showed to the peoplean alternative path, which was free from caste hierarchy and rituals. Consequently, it had gainedwidespread popularity.

Thus, for decades Buddhism played a useful role against the oppressive mechanism of the castesystem. But in the post-Harsha period Brahaminism had once again established its supremacy. This waspossible because of certain socio-economic changes. The emerging landed aristocracy (feudal lords)patronized the Brahmins which proved more suitable and convenient to their class interests. The revivalof Brahaminism resulted in the rigidity of the caste system. Though the caste system has retained itsessential features in the course of Indian history but never it appeared in such an ugly form as we seeafter the mid-seventh century.

Brahmins at the Apex

The Brahmins, who theoretically, occupied the highest position in the caste hierarchy, benefittedfrom the changes that took place in the post-Harsha period. Taking the full advantages of the changing


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circumstances, which saw the emergence of feudal lords or vassals who extended their patronage tothem, the Brahmins tightened their grip on the socio-religious order of the day.

Romila Thapar aply remarks: “The brahman really came into his own in the post-Gupta period whenBuddhism began to decline and the brahman’s religious authority was backed both by an economic baseand by his indispensability for the legitimation of power.” (The Past and Prejudice, p.29). The Brahmins

were unscrupulous enough to distort learning and education which were used to bestow numerousprivileges on the members belonging to their own-caste.

The Brahmins claimed “reverence from all varnas by the mere fact of birth, expounding the dutyof all classes, freedom from death sentence, exemption from taxes, precedence on all roads, lesserpunishment for certain offences in comparison with the other castes, a shorter period of mourning, etc.Alberuni says that “if a Brahmin killed a man, the former had only to fast, pray and give alms.”

Position of the Kshatriyas

Next to the Brahmins stood the Kshatriyas in the caste system. They were master of the land, andgenerally .the rulers belonged to this caste, The system which they inherited narrowed their outlook.Continuous warfare became their main preoccupation. They made war a social virtue. To quote professor

Romila Thapar:“war became a grand pageant, and death on the battlefield the highest possible honour.

Heroic virtues were instilled into the child from birth and a man who shirked fighting was held /contempt....... women, too, were taught to die, should her husband be killed.”

Making war a social virtue the Kshatriyas entered into an era of senseless military confrontationeven on a slight pretext. Continuous warfare involving indiscriminate killing certainly weakened thestructure over which they were sitting.

In their private life the Kshatriyas did not observe simplicity since they owned means of production(land) and wielded political power. Like contemporary ruling classes they led a luxurious life and didnot hesitate to spend liberally. Many of them used to indulge in reckless drinking of wine, others leda highly sensual life. B.P. Mazumdar observes : “to a modern man the kings as well as their court-Poets,who composed the laudatory verses for copper-plates and inscriptions, appear to be shameless. Theytook pride not only in capturing the womenfolk of defeated countries but also in openly proclaimingbefore the world their dalliance with them.” As far as the economic conditions were cencerned theKshatriyas generally lived a happy and prosperous life. All this was possible because they owned landand could exploit it to the maximum for maintaining their social as well as political status.

Declining Status of the Vaishayas

The social condition of other castes which were placed in the lower order was far from satisfactory.The position of the Vaishayas, who constituted the business community received a setback. This wasfirstly because of the emergence of feudalism and secondly to the revival of Brahaminism. The former

had affected its economic position, while the latter gave a blow to its rising social status. It is interestingto note that Alberuni did not find any difference between the Vaishayas and Sudras. This may be anexaggeration but it certainly shows the declining position of the Vaishayas in the Society.

Commenting on the condition of the Vaishayas Prof. B.N.S. Yadav points out:

“As in the feudal societies, the merchant class ‘was here also generally scorned by the elite. In theareas under the observation of Alberuni the distinction between the Vaishayas and the Sudras had toa considerable extent, faded away by the 11th century A.D. In the wake of the rise and growth of thefeudal tendencies and the consequent economic decline during the first phase of the early medieval


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period the social and economic status of the Vaishayas generally suffered decline.” (Society and Culturein Northern India in the Twelfth Century, p. 38)

Plight of the Sudras

The sudras were placed in the last or the fourth category of the varna system. They comprised of “the majority of agricultural labourers and petty peasants, artisans and craftsmen, and also some

vendors, manual workers, servants and attendants, and those following low occupation. They weredivided into several caste groups.” But the overwhelming section of the Sudras was engaged in cultivationand agricultural labour.”

The sudras led a miserable life. Their economic condition was deplorable. Also they were despisedby the upper castes. Education was barred to them. Any violation of the restrictions, imposed by theBrahmins, meant death or severe punishment for sudras. Sometimes the sudras could organize themselvesto liberate themselves, as evident from the “armed revolts” of the Kaivartas in Bengal in the time of Mahipala and Rampala. But these instances however inspiring were rare.

Antyaja or Untouchables

The most miserable condition was of those who were not given any place, even the lowest, in thecaste-system. They were kept outside the caste hierarchy. They were not even permitted to live withinthe city-walls or inside the fortified villages. The upper most of these groups were termed as antyajaor untouchables while the rest of the groups were given no label. Alberuni mentions following eightgroups of the antyaja.

1. Fuller of Washerman, 5. Sailor,

2. Shoemaker, 6. Fisherman,

3. Juggler, 7. Hunter or wild animals and birds

4. Basket and shield maker, 8. Weavers.

Besides these groups Alberuni refers to other groups who were the worst victims of the castesystem. They were hadi, doma, chandala and bhadatu. They lived an awful life. They were responsiblefor looking after the sanitation of the villages and other “dirty work” but they lived a very miserable life.

Untouchability continued to receive sanction from the contemporary scholars. The sudras, antyajaand chandala etc., continued to be regarded as untouchables. Kalhana’s Rajatarangani reveals that “thehorror of untouchability had increased in his age.”

Impact of Social Organization

A social organization based on caste system was bound to create an unhealthy and suffocatingatmosphere. It generated a narrow outlook and petty mentality in the ruling class, which was prone toreject anything which was reasonable, rational and scientific. The contemporary Indian society hadbecome insular. Alberuni thus writes :

“The Hindus believe that there is no country but theirs, no nation like theirs, no king like theirs, noreligion like theirs, no science like theirs.”

This self-glorifying and conceited attitude had a serious effect on the contemporary society whichrefused to grow and turned into a store of superstition and prejudices.

Commenting on the social conditions prevailing in the contemporary medieval society on the eve of the Turkish invasion Dr. P. Saran remarks :


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“This spirit of exclusive superiority was created and maintained by a process of intellectual fraud,in as much as almost the entire literature of the period was utilised for this purpose and the masses wereasked to follow it blindly in the name of Holy Writ, to question whose authority was an unpardonablesin.”

During the early medieval period we find the beginning of child marriage and sati system. Moreover,widow remarriage had become a thing of past. Commenting on the prevailing conditions in the earlymedieval period Prof. Mohammad Habib makes the following remarks:

“This division of Indian society into castes and sub-castes with impossible barriers between them,and the principle of discrimination as the basis of society, could not fail to lead to the unhappiest results.Indian culture had once been on the offensive, it had penetrated into the heart of Central Asia in theform of Buddhism and it had also gone to the islands of the Pacific Ocean. But for centuries beforethe Ghorian invasion Indian culture had been on retreat. Within the country itself the Thakur class withits monopoly of power had completely alienated the workers and peasants.”

The social conditions thus prevailing in the period under our study created a wide gulf between therulers and the ruled. Prof. D.D. Kosambi aptly remarks, “.... the people had no interest preserving their

rulers”. Consequently, the masses did not bother to rise against the Turks. The indifference thus shownby the common people mainly facilitated the victory of the Turks against the rulers of India. No systemcan last for long without keeping the confidence of the toiling people.

Economic Condition

The most significant economic features of the period under our study were as follows :

(i) Self-sufficient village economy,

(ii) feudalization of land system,

(iii) decline in trade and commerce.

Self-sufficient Village Economy

The self-sufficient village economy means that production is restricted to meet the immediate needof a village community. In other .words, we may say that production was essentially for the purposeof local consumption and did not intend to meet the requirements of a wider market. For performingthe task of production a village contained in itself various component groups of workers, whereinworker in the group was assigned a duty, which was determined by the fact of his birth. The groupsof workers usually consisted of peasants, blacksmiths, potters, cobblers, etc. Thus the village was self-sufficient for the daily needs and services. This was indeed a significant and important feature of theeconomy of India during the period under our study, and remained so down to the nineteenth century.

However, we should also note that self-sufficient village economy does not mean that it was entirelya closed system. We have important exceptions, as noted by Prof. D.D. Kosambi, like commodity

production in metals, salts, coconuts, cotton, tambula (pan), areca nuts, etc. Moreover, the villagesexisting on the seashores and very near to the towns differed in their economic activities with theircounterparts.

Feudalization of Land System

The second

Documents

SM 1 Medieval