Early Medieval India (AD 750-1200)

• Early medieval period is marked by the presence of a large number of regional and local powers in the absence of a paramount power in the country. This period has been characterized by certain historians as ‘regional imperial kingdoms’. The essential points of eary-medieval India may be highlighted as :

1. Political Decentralization

2. Emergence of landed Intermediaries

3. Naturalisation of Economy

4. Subjection of the Peasantry

5. Proliferation of castes

6. Formation of Regional cultural units

7. Feudal Dimension of the Ideology and Culture.

Kannauj

• In the post-Gupta period, Kannauj became the centre of political activities in North India. The political unity crumbled on Harsha’s death and was followed by a period of anarchy and confusion in Northern India. A number of petty principalities and independent kingdoms rose on the ruins of the empire of Harsha.
• Chachnama a work of rather late period, mentions four kings ruling at Kannauj during a period of seventy years following the death of Harsha. These four kings were Rasil Rai, Sayar, Sahiras and Rai Harachander.

Yashovarman

• A famous monarch named Yashovarman defeated many kings, which included the king of the Magadha, Vanga, Parasika, Shrikantha and Harishchandra.
• He is supposed to have founded the city named Yashovarmapura.
• Yashovarman could not enjoy the rule of his vast empire, extending from north Bengal to N-W frontier province, for long.
• Lalithadithya, the king of Kashmir (about 750 AD) grew jealous of Yashovarman’s power and attacked Kannauj (Gadhipura) and finally uprooted Yashovarman.
• The Rajatarangini mentions that the poets Vakpatiraja, Bhavabhuti and others adorned the court of Yashorvarman.
• Malatimadhava, Mahaviracharita and Uttararamacharita, three well-known Sanskrit plays were written by Bhavabhuti.

Ayudhas-Three rulers of Kannauj

• After Yashovarman’s dynasty, the last three rulers Ama, Dunduka and Bhoja. (belonging to the same lineage-Ayudhas) ruled for a very short period. During this period the struggle for Kannauj seems to have begun. Vajrayudha was the first king who was defeated by Jayapida Vinayaditya of Kashmir. Dhruva Rashtrakita invaded the Doab and defeated the Kannauj king Indrayudha. Indrayudha was also defeated by Dharmapala of Bengal.

Kannauj and the Tripartite struggle

• The tripartite struggle had started between the Palas, the Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas for the control of Kannauj and North India. The tripartite struggle continued for nearly a century and ended in favour of the Gurjara-Pratihara ruler Nagabhata II who founded the Gurjara-Pratihara kingdom at Kannauj.

Struggle For Kannauj  And Reasons

Causes Of Tripartite Struggle

• Causes for Tripartite Struggle between the Pratiharas, Palas and Rashtrakutas are as follows
• To acquire supremacy over Kanauj, as symbol of prestige.
• Te get control over the rich resources of the Gangetic valley.
• To get control over Gujarat and Malwa whose nearness to the coast was very important for forging trade.
• Lust for war booty, and important source for maintaining a huge army.
• Desire to impress the smaller kingdoms with the sense of their power and demand respect.

The Rajputs

• The smaller states in northern India were ruled by people known as Rajputs. The period between A.D. 647 and A.D. 1192 i.e. 500 years is known as the Rajput period in the history of India. With the downfall of Pratihara Empire, a number of Rajput states came into existence in north India.

Origin

• There are different theories regarding the origin of the Rajputs.
• One theory suggests that the Rajputs are descendents of the ancient Kshtriyas belonging to either Sun family (Suryavansha) or Moon family (Chandravansha).
• There is a theory of the foreign origin also. But there were four clans which claimed that they had not descended from either of these two families but from the fire family (agni-kula).
• These four clans were the most important in the history of this period. They were the Pratiharas (or Pariharas) not to be confused with the main Pratiharas- the Chauhans, Solankis, and Pawars (or Paramars).
• The four (“agni-kula”) clan established their power in Western India and over parts of Central India and Rajasthan.
• The foreign origin of some of the Rajput clans is definitely proved by the epigraphic evidence.
• On the whole, the diversity of the cults and beliefs, manners and customs prevalent among the Rajputs seems to indicate diversity of origin.
• Gahadvalsa, Parmars and Chauhans The most powerful Rajputs were the Gahadvalas of Kannauj, the Paramaras of Malwa, and the Chauhans of Ajmer.
• There were other smaller dynasties in different parts of the country, like the Kalachuris in the area around modern Jabalpur, the Chandellas in Bundelkhand, the Chalukyas of Gujarat, and the Tomars of Delhi, etc.
• The Gahadvalas of Kannauj gradually squeezed the Palas out of Bihar, and made Banaras a second capital.
• Meanwhile, the Chauhans who had established themselves at Ajmer were gradually extending their empire towards Gujarat, as well as towards Delhi and the Punjab.
• On the periphery of what had been the three major kingdoms, there had arisen a number of small states.
• These were Nepal, Kamarupa (Asaam), Kashmir, and Utkala (Orissa).
• Many of the hill states of the Punjab came into being at this time, including Champaka (Chamba), Durgara (Jammu) and Kuluta (Kulu).
• The obsession with local affairs and infighting among the states made them weak.
•  The Four Agnikula Rajput Clans (i) The Parihara - also known as Pratihara based in southern Rajasthan. (ii) The Chauhans - helped Pratihara against Arabs, based in eastern Rajasthan. (iii) The Solankis - also called Chalukyas of Gujarat, based in Kathiwara. (iv) The Pawars of Parmars - established their control in Malwa with their capital at Dhar near Indore. The four clans dominated early Rajput activities.
• Rajput Society The Feudal order was strongly established among the Rajputs.
• The Rajput rulers divided the Kingdoms among landed units called Jairs and distributed them among faithful nobles.
• The Rajputs were Hindus and were known as Kshatriyas, being a warrior class.
• They celebrated the major Hindu festivals and invoked Goddesses like Durga or Bhavani for strength and valour.
• Rajput women were respected in society but did not enjoy the same position as men.

Rajput Contribution to Literature

• The period under the Rajputs also witnessed the blossoming of literature.
• Munja of the Paramar dynasty of Malwa was a great scholar and poet.
• Another king, King Bhoj was well-known for his wisdom and learning and assumed the title of Raviraja.
• Rajput Art and Architecture The palaces of Jaipur and Udaipur and the forts of Chittor, Mandu, Jodhpur and Gwalior are fine examples of Rajput architecture.
• Dilwara temples at Mount Abu, the Vimala Vasahi and the Luna Vasahi were built by Soalankis of Gujarat.

Rajput Paintings

• The Rajput paintings are classified into the Rajasthani School of Art and the Pahari School of Art.
• The Rajasthani School flourished in Mewar, Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bundi and specialized in depicting scenes from Krishna lila, Mayika Veda and Ritu Charita.
• The Pahari School was patronized by the rulers of Himalayan states especially in the regions of Basoli, Mandi, Jammu, Kangra, Garhwal.
• Sansar Chand, the ruler of Kangra encourages this school of paintings dealing with Radha and Krishna, Baramasa (12 months) and Ragas (Melodies).
• The best examples of Paharei school are the Nal Damayanti and Goghara, the Govardhan Dharan and the seize of Lanka.

Indian Feudalism

• This period (from 750 to 1200) in Indian history has been termed as a period of ‘Indian Fedualism’ by a few historians.
• They believed that a number of changes took place in Indian society.
• One significant change was the growing power of a class of people who are variously called Samantas, Ranaks, Rauttas etc.
• Their origins were very different. Some were government officers who were defeated rajas who continued to enjoy the revenue of limited areas.
• Still others were local hereditary chiefs or tribal leaders who had carved out a sphere of authority with the help of armed supporters.
• In course of time these revenue-bearing lands began to be considered hereditary and monopoly of a few families.
• The hereditary chiefs began to assume many of the functions of the government.
• They not only assessed and collected land revenue but also assumed more and more administrative power such as the right lands to their followers without the prior permission of the rulers.
• This led to an increase in the number of people who drew sustenace form the land without working on it.
• The salient features of Indian feudalism were as follows:

1. Emergence of hierarchical landed intermediaries. Vassal and officers of state and other secular assignes had military obligations and were called Samonta. Subinfeudation (varying in different regions) by these donees to get their land cultivalted led to the growth of different strata of intermediaries. It was a hierarchy of landed aristocarats, tenants, share croppers and cultivators. This hierarchy was also reflected in the powers, administrative structure, where a sort of lord vassal relationship emerged. In other words, Indian feudalism consisted of the unequal distribution of land and its produce.
2. Prevalence of forced labour. The right of extracting forced labour (Vishti) is believed to have been exercised by the Brahmanas and other grantees of land. Forced labour was originally a prerogrative of the king or the state. It was transferred to the grantees, petty officials, village authorities and other. As a result, a kind of serfdom emerged, in which agricultural labourers were reduced to the position of semi-serfs.
3. Due to the growing claims of greater over them by rulers and intermediares, peasants also suffered an curtailmat of their land rights. Many were reduced to the positon of tenants facing evergrowing threat of eviction. A number of peasants were only share- croppers (ardhikas). The strain on the peasantry was also caused by the burden of taxation, coercion and increase in their indebtness.
4. Surplus was extracted through various methods. Extra economic coercion was a conspicuous method, new mechanisms of economic subordination also evolved.
5. It was relatively a closed village economy. The transfer of human resources along with land to the beneficiaries shows that in such villages the peasants, craftsmen and artisans were attached to the village and, hence, were mutually dependent. Their attachment to land and to service grants ensured control over them by the beneficeries.
6. Recently, the validity of the feudel formation in the context of medieval India has been questioned.
7. It has been suggested that the medieval society was characterised by self dependent of free-peasant production.
8. The peasants had control over the means and the processes of production.
9. It is added that there was relative stability in social and economic structure and there was not much change in the level of techniques of the surplus than over a redistribution of means of production.
10. The appropriation of agrarian surplus to the state formed the chief instrument of exploition.
11. The high fertility of land and the low subsistence level of the peasants facilitated the state appropriation of the surplus in condition of relative stability.
12. This line of approach does not take note of superior right and inferior rights of one party or another over land.
13. In fact, in early medieval times, in the same piece of land, the peasant held inferior right and the landlords held superior right.
14. The landgrants clearly made the position of the landlords strong over the land as compared to that of peasants.
15. The critique of feudal polity does not take note of massive evidence in support of the subjection and immobility of peasantry, which is an indispensable element in the feudal system.
16. Some of these factors are stated below.

1. It weakened the position of the ruler, and made him more dependent on the feudal chiefs, many of whom maintained their own military forces which could be used to defy the ruler.

2. The internal weaknesses of the Indian states became crucial in their contest with the Turks later on.

3. the small states discouraged trade, and encouraged an economy in which villages or groups of villages tended to become largely self-sufficient.

4. The domination of the feudal chiefs also weakened village self-government.

5. The feudel order had a few advantages as well.

• In an age of disorder and violence, the stronger feudal chiefs protected the lines and property of the peasants and other without which daily life could not have functioned.
• Some of the feudal chief protected the lives and property of the peasants and others without which daily life could not have functioned.
• Some of the feudal chief also took an interest in the extension and improvement of cultivation.
• Economically, the first phase, i.e, AD 750– AD 1000, is believed to be one of decline.
• It is evident from the absence of coins for exchange and the decayed condition of towns inorthern India.
• But in the second phase after AD 1000, we notice a revival of trade activities.
• Not only do we come across new gold coins, there are also numerous references to trade goods and towns.

What could be the reason for it?

• There seem to be two main reasons for it.
• One, there was increase in agricultural activities on account of land grants in fresh areas.
• It led to surplus production of goods for exchange.
• And second, the Arab traders had emerged on the coastal areas of India as important players in international sea trade.
• The Arabs had acquired a foothold in Sind in AD 712 and later, gradually, they set up their settlements all along the sea from Arabia to China.
• These settlements served as important channels for the sale and purchase of Indian goods, and thus helped in the growth of Indian external trade.
• In south India, the Chola kings maintained close commercial contact with southeast Asia (Malaya, Indonesia etc) and China.