HISTORY
Subject
:
History
(For under graduate student)
Paper No.
:
Paper-I
History of India
Topic No. & Title
:
Topic-10
Gupta Empire
Lecture No. & Title
:
Lecture-2A
Socio Economic Changes during
the Late Antiquity (Part-A)
Social
and
Economic
Changes
during
the
Late
Antiquity:
The 3rd century AD which witnessed the collapse of the
Kushanas in North India and the Satavahanas in the Deccan
ushered in a period of realignment of political forces.
Amongst the ruling families it was the Guptas who set up a
political structure which according to some scholars had all
the
attributes
of
an
empire.
Considering
their
varied
achievements scholars have asserted that the Gupta Period
was a Golden Age in Indian history, a concept which is now
debated.
The sources for the Gupta period include coins, epigraphs,
(the most important being the Allahabad Pillar Prashasti of
Samudra Gupta) and the various specimens of art manifested
in architecture, sculpture and paintings. Literature includes
works of eminent personalities like Shudraka and Kalidasa,
and
the
two
Tamil
epics,
the
Silappadikaram
and
Manimekalai, along with various foreign sources including
works of Chinese pilgrims who visited India mainly to explore
the condition of Buddhism there.
Towards the end of the Gupta Period a new system was
evolving in the socio-economic fabric of the country, known
as the
Agrahara System.
institutions
(Buddhist
Donations
monastery
or
made
Jain
to religious
temple
or
Brahmanical place of worship) were termed agrahara. This
applied to donations made by an individual person not by the
royal authority, although the endorsement or consent of the
royal authority was required. This practice was prevalent in
the fourth and fifth centuries although it had its beginnings in
the first and second century in South India during the
Satavahana Period.
The state by degrees found out that in the Kalyuga, the
different classes and castes who were assigned respective
functions by the Puranas and the epics were not adhering to
the norms. This posed a formidable problem for the Gupta
monarch, as it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to
collect taxes.
Therefore in order to relinquish some of his
financial or fiscal duties the king resorted to grants of land to
mediatories or as payment to the Brahmins. The system of
grants first started by way of paying the Brahmin and then it
was extended to the military officials as well. These land
grants involved not just parting with land, but also a parting
away of the king’s administrative, executive and even his
police functions. A new class of intermediaries were emerging
who would be handling the functions, which earlier were
performed by the king and his officials.
The Agrahara System may also be viewed as indicative of a
social revolution. Sections of society no longer abided by the
norms laid down by the shastras (the Puranas and epics had
already foretold that shudras and vaishyas woild not conform
to caste expectations in the Kalyug). This was because in the
meantime there had taken place a tremendous increase in
the volume of trade normally conducted by the Vaishyas and
Shudras. On the other hand there was a substantial increase
in agricultural output, in which sector the Shudras played an
active role. Both the vaishyas and shudras started amassing
a sizeable portion of wealth as a result of these changes, and
so were unwilling to remain within the confines of ritualistic
caste and class regulations according to which they were
assigned an inferior status. This in turn converted them into
votaries of such religions as Buddhism and Jainism which
spoke of a casteless system. These classes then made
donations to religious orders as an expression of their
dedication and support. Sometimes donations were also
made to temples of Brahmanical deities by these individuals
who were devotees of such deities.
Regarding the consequences of this system, sources indicate
that oppression definitely increased under the new masters,
with more pressure being exerted for exaction of more taxes.
Forced labour or Visthi, which had been practiced even in the
Maurya Period, now became a regular feature under Gupta
rule. Vishti was definitely a system that made the society less
egalitarian than one would expect in the Gupta Period.
The various copper plates (5th and 6th century AD) unearthed
from different regions of Bengal have referred to the various
classes of land that existed during this period. Apart from
cultivable land or Ksetra/Vapaksetra, there were habitation
plots or Vastus, forests or Aranyas, and land that was kept
fallow called Khila. The fallow lands were sometimes qualified
as Aprahata meaning land that has never been tilled before,
and Adyastamba or land covered with shrubs and bushes
never
cleared
before,
Aprada
or
Apratikara/Upratikara/Sunyapratikara
unyielding
meaning
land
land
and
that
does not produce any revenue. Akilaksetra indicates arable
land kept fallow in between cultivation of crops.
The
twelve
copper
plates
from
Bengal
also
provide
information about the system of measurement of land. The
sizes of the plot were indicated in terms of Adhavapa,
Dronavapa, Kulyavapa. The term ‘vapa’ means the sowing of
seeds in the field. When prefixed with the terms Adha, Drona
and Kulya it refers probably to the seed-bearing capacity of
the soil. The same grants also refer to the use of two rods or
nalas at the time of demarcating a plot when it is finally
transferred to the donee. The rods or nalas must have been
used for the linear measurement of the plot.
Brahmans,
Buddhist
Viharas,
Jain
Vasudhis
and
other
religious institutions were the main beneficiaries of land
transfers during this time. In 507 AD in Samatata, eleven
pitakas of land divided into five separate plots were donated
to a Buddhist vihara. In the Vakataka realm the sizes of plots
varied from as meagre as twelve nivardhanas to as large as
eight thousand nivardhanas. There is also an instance of a
large area of two hundred nivardhanas being donated to four
Brahmins. The Vakatakas mostly donated land or villages to
the Brahmin priests. As the grantees were on most occasion’s
religious institutions and personages the Brahmins became
the most prominent owners of land, which naturally led to an
increase in their material conditions, status and prestige. A
6th century copper plate from ancient Samatata area shows
the non-Brahmin villagers like the carpenter (varddhaki) and
the mechanic (vilala) owning arable lands and ponds.
Proper
irrigation
facilities
are
essential
requisite
for
agriculture to thrive. In Bengal the easy availability of water
did
not
necessitate
artificial
irrigation.
But
there
are
references to grandiose schemes of irrigation executed under
royal
patronage.
One
was
built by Pritisen
II of the
Nandivarman branch of the Vakatakas. The setu (irrigation
project) excavated by him was named Prithvisamudra, after
the ruling king. The epithet ‘samudra’ indicates its impressive
size. There were also supra-level irrigation projects being
executed by kings, the most famous among them being the
Sudarshan Project, the ruins of which have been found in
Kennar in Kathiawar. Its history spans from the 4th century
BC when it was excavated by Chandra Gupta Maurya. It was
improved upon by King Ashoke subsequently. In 150 AD
Rudradaman once again undertook repairs as it had been
damaged by a storm. During the Gupta Period it was again
repaired
by
Skanda
Gupta’s
provincial
governors
in
Saurashtra because it had suffered damages. This royal
patronage indicates the importance given to the agrarian
sector of the economy. Subsequently many other projects
were named after their illustrious counterparts in Kathiawar.
The Ramtek inscription bears testimony to the excavation of
a tank named Sudarshan by Queen Prabhavati Gupta which
she dedicated to the temple.
Alongside
agriculture,
the
non-agrarian
sector
of
the
economy also flourished. Skilled craftsmen working through
the
guilds
jewellery,
produced
textiles
and
good
ivory
quality
ceramics,
carvings.
But
artifacts,
the
finest
technology of the Gupta Period lay in metal work involving
copper and iron. A 7th century bronze statue of the Buddha
weighing a ton found in the ruins of a Buddhist monastery at
Sultangunj in Bihar in 1864, (now housed in the Birmingham
Museum) is the finest example of copper metal work of this
period. The Iron Pillar of Delhi which still shows no signs of
rust and erosion since 200 AD is another very good example
of iron technology during the Gupta Period. For many
centuries, India led the world in metal technology (except
China).
Another new feature that may be observed in the economic
and professional activities of society was the growth of the
guilds
known
as
the
Srenis
or
Nigamas.
These
were
organisations of craftsmen. In ancient India there were
varieties of crafts, as well as a rising international demand
for Indian merchandise produced by Indian craftsmen. This
necessitated a professional organisation, and professional
handling. Different groups of artisans came to be organized
under different guilds. As there were no formal training
schools for craftsmen, this was provided by the guild itself.
There was also a lot of competition among these guilds, and
trade secrets were closely guarded and kept shut to other
groups. Since the merchandise had to be sold across the
country the Sresthi or the money-lender or the person who
provided the investment also had to club together with a
number of other people from other professions.
Clay seals have been discovered from Bassar, in which the
Sanskrit term ‘Sreshthi-Sarthavaha-Kulika-Nigama’ appears
probably indicating an umbrella
organisation embracing
organisations of merchants, artisans and caravan traders. In
a 4th century inscription from Nasik there is reference to a
potter’s guild or the Kularika Niga ma. There are other guilds
that find mantion, like the reference to a guild of silk weavers
in the Mandasor inscription of Kumara Gupta I and Budha
Gupta.
The guilds were organised commercial organisations. Their
importance is clear from the fact that the heads of artisans,
caravan traders, the Sresthi himself and sometimes even the
scribes who kept records were all represented in the local
administration
of
the
Gupta
Period.
The
Shashtrakars
mention that the guild laws were as important as the laws of
the land and the king should take cognizance of their laws.
They were permitted to function according to their own laws
until and unless they threatened the security of the country
in any way.
These
guilds
ensured
expertise
and
perfection
in
the
commodities they produced. Members of the guilds are
known sometimes to have changed their professions or
crafts. Once a whole guild of silk weavers came away from
the coastal region of western India to settle in Mandasor and
changed their profession totally. Some of them became
story-tellers, or swordsmen. It is interesting to note that
such changes of professions did not find favour in the Smritis
or the Shastras which even prescribed that an intermediary
(a Madhyasta) should intervene and settle these matters in
order to stop major upsets in the guild system.
The Urban Decay
A key argument associated with the economic activities of
the Gupta Empire in its period of decline was that there was
a decline in urban centres, and that the cities that emerged
in the phase of the second urbanization of India between the
6th century BC and the 4th century AD were on the decline.
This decline is taken to be an outcome of the decline in trade,
especially Roman trade. It is argued that the cities were so
dependent on Roman trade (that they were all dotted along
the line which led to the Roman trade) that urban decay
became an important feature of the socio-economic fabric,
with society becoming increasingly fragmented into self
sufficient village economies.
Historians are however divided in their opinions regarding
this process of urban decay and the role played by Roman
trade in bringing this about in the Gupta Period. They argue
that the volume of Roman trade had never been as great as
it had been made out to be by earlier historians, so as to
cause the disappearance of Indian cities with the decline of
Rome and Roman trade. Many of the fine cities of the
Kushana Period like Allahabad, Kausambi, Ujjain, Mathura or
Benaras did show signs of decay, with a reduction in revenue
generation and investments, so urban decay cannot be
totally ruled out.
But it must also be noted that at the same time other cities
were emerging in places like Gujarat, the Satavahana
Empire, eastern Deccan and western coast. Trade was
changing dimensions, as surplus in agricultural produce led
to a different kind of trade.
Literary evidences of important works like Vatsyayana’s
Kamasutra, and Shudraka’s Mricchkatikam talk of a very
advanced, aesthete, and sophisticated urban life. Had there
been
any
remarkable
decline
in
urban
trade
and
corresponding decline in the cities, this level of high urban
culture could not have thrived. There had to be patrons and
clients for such sophistication to get nurtured. It was Fa Hien
and Hiuen Tsang who described this decline of urban centres,
which cannot be dismissed. But rather than dwelling on these
erstwhile cities belonging to the second phase of urbanization
alone, we should also focus our attention on other areas
where different kinds of trades and cities were surfacing, like
the city of Arakamedu in southern India.
Conclusion
We have discussed the Agrahara System and its implications,
the system of land measurement and demarcation of plots,
the irrigation system, craft and mercantile organisations and
the non-agrarian sector of the economy and causes and
effects of urbanisation.