IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : India History From 8th to 15th Century - Northern and Eastern India

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

History India From 8th to 15th Century

Northern and Eastern India

Structure

9.0 Objectives
9.1 Introduction
9.2 The Region ~efined
9.3 Dispersal of Powers : The New Royalty
9.3.1 Growth of Administrative Units
9.3.2 Transfer of Administrative and Fiscal Rights
9.33 Vu4s u King Makm
9.4 Tnnqformcd Bureaucracy
9.4.1 M~aals. V& and Land
9.4.2 Th'e Power Hierarchy of Sun&
9.4.3 Feudalbation of Bureaucracy
9.4.4 landholding and Clan Considerations
9.5 Functions of S.mmt.s
9.6 Inter-vassal Relationship
9.7 Land Grants and Legitimization of Political Authority
9.8 Let Us Sum Up
9.9 Key Words
9.10 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

9.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit you should be able to explain the:

areas included in .Northern and Easrern India.
real nature of kingship, distribution of administrative and fiscal power,
emergence of lmulticentered power structure,
role of vassals and state offieials,
changes in the bureaucratic set up, in the light of land-distribution,
power hierarchy of samantm and functions of snmantm,
influence of clan on landholdings,
inter-vassal relationship, and
ideological base of political authority.

9.1 INTRODUCTION

The preceding Unit (No. 8) had attempted to introduce you to a theoretical debate ,
on the nature of political organisation in the Indian sub-continent between the eighth
and thirteenth centuries. The present Unit, however, is a specific case study of North
and East India. The overall reconstruction has been done within the framework of +t-'
what has been described as feudal polity. The Unit seeks to show the limits of the so '
called ceqtralised monarchies and the real nature of new royalty. We will discuss the /
pattern of landholdings, the distribution of adminisrrative and fiscal powers and the
transfer of judicial and policing rights. We will also analyse the emergence of a new
type of bureaucracy, the hierarchy of samantu and the multifarious functions of
samantu and other officials. All these are indicators of the rise of multi-centered
power structure in the ;region under discussion. The Unit also seeks to highlight the
ideological base of this structure.