Brahmadeya

Brahmadeya (given to Brahmin[1]) was tax free land gift either in form of single plot or whole villages donated to Brahmans in the early medieval India. It was initially practiced by the ruling dynasties and was soon followed up by the chiefs, merchants, feudatories, etc. Brahmadeya was devised by the Brahmanical texts as the surest mean to achieve merit and destroy sin.

Brahmadeya helped the expansion of agrarian economy and the emergence of urban settlements. It also helped the Kings to gain the ideological support for their rule. Brahamdeya sometimes also resulted in alienation of peasant land rights and created social tension and clash leading even to death between peasant, Brahmans and the Kings.

Overview

Brahmadeya represented the grant of land either in a single plot or whole villages donated to Brahamans by making them land-owners or land-controllers.[2][3][4][5] It was also given to more than one Brahmana (ekabhoga), to several Brahmana families (ganabhogam) which is estimated to be from few to several hundreds or even more than thousands, particularly in the South India.[6][7] The gift of land were mostly selected around the irrigation facilities such as tanks or lakes and were supposed to be operable to fulfill the needs of the donees. In the absence of facility, new means of irrigation system were created near the brahmadeyas.[8][9] The Kings and feudatories were to lost their right over donated lands and could not take it back even in the absence of heir. In the absence of heir, brahamdeya was transferred to some other eligible person of the same caste.[10] Though, mostly lands, other objects such as food, grains, paddy, gold, money, cow, oxen, ploughshare, etc. were also given away as a gift.

The historical evidence of the practice of donating lands in return of spiritual favour is traced back to 3rd-4th century A.D. in South India. The earliest royal land grant inscription that mentions brahmadeya is discovered from the 3rd century A.D. of the reign of Brihatphala yana King Jayavarman.[11] Brahmadeya soon developed into a systematic attempt to avail subsistence to Brahmans and a common practice onward 4th century A.D.[8] The registration of donated land that included cultivable land, garden, residential plot were recommended by the Smrities and Puranas of the Post-Gupta period and were recorded on the copper plates.[6][8] The tradition of land grants through the history of practice took the shape of a legal form governed by the law book called, Dharmaśāstra. The Anushasana Parva, a part of the great epic Mahabharata has a complete chapter dedicated to Bhumi-dana-prasamsa, commending the gifts of land.[12]

Bramadeyas, however helped to bring virgin land under cultivation and to integrate the existing rural settlement into a new economic order, dominated by the Brahmans proprietor.[13][14][15] They were exempted from various land taxes and dues either entirely or partially such as in the initial states of settlement. The taxes from the donated villages were assigned to Brahmana donees.[10] Brahamdeyas also helped the ruling families as they did gain the ideological support for their political power.[14] It is said to be a chief characteristic of the Indian feudalism.[8]

The donation of land sometimes represented more than just the transfer of land rights. At many instances, human resources such as peasants, artisans and others along with revenues and economic resources were also transferred to the donees.[16][17] There are several inscriptional evidence of conflicts between peasants, Brahmanas, and doners arising out of alienation of rights. Among other conflicting issues, right over drawing water was the most sensitive issue. An inscription dated back to 1080 A.D. belonging to the Hasan Taluk mentions a water dispute between a Brahman and a farmer's family. Another inscription from the same taluk of 1230 A.D. evidences the death of two farmers over land right issue.[18] Peasants were sometimes forced to agree conversion of their land into brahamdeya by denying water to them. In the brahmadeya villages, villagers were landless labours who were paid a portion of crop they helped to cultivate.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Thapar, Romila (1995). Recent perspectives of early Indian history. Bombay: Popular Prakashan. p. 330. ISBN 9788171545568. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  2. 1 2 Hill, Christopher V. (2008). South Asia : an environmental history. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. p. 46. ISBN 9781851099252. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  3. ↑ Sircar, D.C. (1966). Indian epigraphical glossary. Dehli: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 61. ISBN 9788120805620. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Ghose, Rajeshwari (1996). The lord of Ārūr - the Tyāgarāja cult in Tamilnāḍu : a study in conflict and accommodation (1. ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. pp. 136, 189. ISBN 9788120813915. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  5. ↑ Ramanujan, Fred W. Clothey with the poem Prayers to Lord Murukan̲ / by A. K. (1978). The many faces of Murukan̲ : the history and meaning of a South Indian god. The Hague: Mouton. ISBN 9789027976321. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  6. 1 2 Bhavani, editors, S. Ganeshram, C. (2011). History of people and their environs : essays in honour of Prof. B.S. Chandrababu. Chennai: Indian Universities Press. ISBN 9789380325910. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  7. ↑ T. K. Venkatasubramanian. Political Change and Agrarian Tradition in South India, C. 1600-1801: A Case Study. Mittal Publications, 1986. pp. 78, 109. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Chattopadhyaya, edited by B.D. (2009). A social history of early India (1. impr. ed.). Delhi: Pearson Longman. pp. 160, 170, 199, 200,. ISBN 9788131719589. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  9. ↑ Verma, Archana (2007). Cultural and visual flux at early historical Bagh in central India. Oxford: Archaeopress. pp. 25, 28, 30, 32, 33. ISBN 9781407301518. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  10. 1 2 K.R. Sarkar. Public Finance in Ancient India. Abhinav Publications, 2003. p. 141. ISBN 9788170170723. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  11. ↑ University of Kerala. Dept. of History, University of Allahabad. Dept. of Modern Indian History, University of Travancore, University of Kerala. "Journal of Indian History". Journal of Indian History (Department of Modern Indian History). 35-36: 197. ISSN 0022-1775.
  12. ↑ Dwijendra Narayan Jha (1967). Revenue system in post-Maurya and Gupta times. Punthi Pustak. p. 128.
  13. ↑ Dirks, Nicholas B. (1993). The hollow crown: ethnohistory of an Indian kingdom (2nd ed.). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472081875. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  14. 1 2 Karashima, Noboru (2001). History and society in south India : the cholas of Vijayanagar : comprising South Indian history and society, Towards a new formation ([Omnibus ed.]. ed.). New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195651041.
  15. ↑ Khanna, edited by Meenakshi (2007). Cultural history of medieval India. New Delhi: Social Science Press. p. 51. ISBN 9788187358305. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  16. ↑ Thapar, Romila (2004). Early India : from the origins to AD 1300. Berkeley [u.a.]: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520242258. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  17. ↑ Romila Thapar (2015). The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. Penguin UK. ISBN 9789352141180.
  18. ↑ Upinder Singh (2008). A history of ancient and early medieval India : from the Stone Age to the 12th century. New Delhi: Pearson Education. p. 594. ISBN 9788131711200. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
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