Indian feudalism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term Indian feudalism is an attempt to classify Indian history according to a European model. Historians have become very reluctant to classify other societies into European models and today it is rare for Indian history to be described as feudal by academics; it still done in popular usage, however, but only for pejorative reasons to express disfavour, typically by critics. These include zamindar, jagir, desmukh, chowdhury. Most of these "systems" were abolished after the Independence of India and the rest of the Subcontinent, but most still exist, officially or in its remnants. D. D. Kosambi and R.S. Sharma, together with Daniel Thorner, brought peasants into the study of Indian history for the first time.[1]
[edit] Indian Feudalism by Ram Sharan Sharma
This book analyses the practice of land grants, which became considerable in the Gupta period and widespread in the post-Gupta period. It shows how this led to the emergence of a class of landlords, endowed with fiscal and administrative rights superimposed upon a class of peasantry which was deprived of communal agrarian rights. In his Indian Feudalism (1965), R.S. Sharma studied in detail the basic relationships in early medieval society down to the eve of the Ghorian conquests.[2] He argued in favour of a feudalism largely realising the surplus from peasants mainly in kind through superior rights in their land and through forced labour, which is not found on any considerable scale... after the Turkish conquest of India.[3]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Habib, Irfan (Seventh reprint 2007). Essays in Indian History. Tulika. p. 381 (at p 109). ISBN 978-8185229003.
- ^ Irfan Habib (Vol. 14 :: No. 16 :: Aug. 9-22, 1997). "History and interpretation". Frontline. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1416/14160600.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ Irfan Habib (Vol. 14 :: No. 16 :: Aug. 9-22, 1997). "History and interpretation". Frontline. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1416/14160600.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
[edit] Further reading
- R.S. Sharma, Perspectives in Social and Economic History of Early India, paperback edn., (Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi, 2003). Translated into Hindi, Russian and Bengali. Gujrati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu translations projected.
- R.S. Sharma, Material Culture and Social Formations in Ancient India, (Macmillan Publishers, Delhi, 1985). Translated into Hindi, Russian and Bengali. Gujrati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu translations projected.
- R.S. Sharma, Urban Decay in India (c.300-1000), (Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1987). Translated into Hindi and Bengali.
- R.S. Sharma, Early Medieval Indian Society: A Study in Feudalisation (Orient Longman Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Delhi, 2003)
- R.S. Sharma, Indian Feudalism (Macmillan Publishers India Ltd., 3rd Revised Edition, Delhi, 2005).
- R.S. Sharma, The State and Varna Formations in the Mid-Ganga Plains: An Ethnoarchaeological Vew (New Delhi, Manohar, 1996).
- R.S. Sharma, Origin of the State in India (Dept. of History, University of Bombay, 1989)
- R.S. Sharma, Land Revenue in India: Historical Studies, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1971.
- Historiography of Indian Feudalism Towards a Model of Early Medieval Indian Economy, C. A.D. 600-1000, by Vijay Kumar Thakur. Commonwealth Publishers, 1989. ISBN 8171690327.
- Origin and Growth of Feudalism in Early India: From the Mauryas to AD 650, by Gian Chand Chauhan. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2004. ISBN 8121510287.
