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IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : India Earliest Times to the 8th Century A.D - Agrarian Settlements and Agrarian Society in Peninsular India (The Deccan and The South)

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

India Earliest Times to the 8th Century A.D

Agrarian Settlements and Agrarian Society in Peninsular India (The Deccan and The South)

Structure

29.0 Objectives
29.1 Introduction
29.2 Forms of Subsistence
29.3 Spread of Agrarian Settlements
29.3.1 Agricultural Production in the Settlements in Tamilaham
29.3.2 Settlements in the Deccan
29.4 Ownership Rights
29.5 Revenue and Surplus Extraction
29.5.1 Revenue from Agriculture
29.5.2 Modes of Acquiring and Distributing resources in Tamilaham
29.5.3 Excesses in Extraction
29.6 Social Organisation
29.6.1 Society in Tamilaham
29.6.2 Society in the Deccan
29.7 New Elements and Social Change
29.8 Let Us Sum Up
29.9 Key Words
29.10 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

29.0 OBJECTIVES

The main aim of this unit is to discuss the spread of agrarian settlements in the Deccan
and South India from 200 B.C. to 300 A.D. After reading this unit you should be able
to know about:
different forms of subsistence which were prevalent in different parts of South India,
the nature of the spread of agrarian settlements,
the nature of ownership of land,
revenue income from agriculture, and redistribution of resources in the agrarian
settlements,
the organisation of agrarian society, and
the introduction of new elements and the beginnings of change.

29.1 INTRODUCTION

The earliest evidence of cultivation in peninsular India is traced back to the later phase
of the new stone age which is dated in the first half of the second millennium B.C. The
new stone age people cultivated millets like ragi and bajra and also pulses like green
gram and horse gram. Making terraces on slopes of hills was an important feature of the'
settlement of the new stone age and the cultivation was limited to the terrace fields.
Rice was found in peninsular India roughly around the beginning of the first millennium
B.C. which is the starting point of the iron age in the south. The spread of rice
cultivation took place in the Deccan and south India during the iron age.
The earliest of the iron age settlements are seen in the upland areas. The introduction
of iron did not bring any sudden change in the techniques of cultivation. Technological
advancement came later with the introduction of the iron ploughshare. This coincided
with a concentration of settlements in the river valleys. Harnessing of bullocks to the
plough and the extensive use of iron ploughshare resulted in the expansion of area
under cultivation and an unprecedentedincrease in agricultural production. There was
a corresponding increase in the population too. A remarkable change occurred later in
the agrarian sector with the beginning of the practice of donating village land to
religious beneficiaries such as Buddhist monasteries and Brahmans. They had better
knowledge of seasons and ability to predict weather. The grants of land to the monks