- Indian feudalism
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 includezamindar ,jagir ,desmukh ,chowdhury . Most of these "systems" were abolished after theIndependence of India and the rest of the Subcontinent, but most still exist, officially or in its remnants.Ram Sharan Sharma
Prof.
Ram Sharan Sharma has written extensively on the origin and growth of feudalism in India. His famous work "Indian Feudalism" (Macmillan Publishers India Ltd., 3rd Revised Edition, Delhi, 2005) deals with the issue. This book analyzes the practice of land grants, which became considerable in theGupta 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 book, "Early Medieval Indian Society: A Study in Feudalisation" (
Orient Longman Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Delhi, 2003), the early medieval period is the focus ofRam Sharan Sharma ’s analysis. In this book Sharma highlights the feudalization of the socio-economic structure of India in early medieval times and attribute the rise of land grants to thevarna conflict and the decline of trade. His panoramic sweep takes in the situation of the peasants and he underlines their loss of control over production due to the dominance of landlords. Sharma also examines the traditionalvarna system and reveals how it was adjusted to the landed hierarchy.A discussion of the influence of tribals on
Brahmanism and the proliferation of the sudra and other castes is included. Sharma argues that the presence of landed magnates altered ways of thinking inlegal ,social andreligious matters.Further reading
*cite book
last = Yadav
first = Sima
title = The Myth of Indian Feudalism
url = https://www.vedamsbooks.com/no38394.htm
publisher = B.R. Publishers
location = Delhi
language = English
isbn =81-7646-465-1
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