Kings, Brāhmaṇas and Collective Land Grants in Early Medieval Odisha

Abstract

Collective land grants to the brāhmaṇas by the ruling authorities were a common feature in early medieval India. It was the usual practice to specify the number of brāhmaṇas receiving land, along with their personal names, gotras, Vedic affiliations and respective shares. But there are examples where these details are not furnished. Besides, there are quite a large number of instances where the brāhmaṇas of a single family received land grants collectively. The number of recipients varied and sometimes several thousands were given land grants in the same locality. There are a number of reasons why the brāhmaṇas were granted land collectively. Scholars like R.S. Sharma and B.P. Mazumdar, who have worked on this aspect and mostly examined the North Indian inscriptions, marshaled their own arguments. While the former situated them in the context of agrarian expansion and tribal acculturation, the latter viewed them largely as strategic moves of the kings for defending the frontiers of their kingdoms. In the present article an attempt has been made to review all the collective land grants of early medieval Odisha and explore the possible reasons for land donations to the brāhmaṇas collectively. The period roughly covers from the fourth to fifth century CE to the twelfth to thirteenth century CE.