Feudalism In India

Feudalization of society took place in different ways. Most noticeably, it manifested itself in the changing nature of land awards, which were formerly only a form of payment for service. Known to us donation letters (and they appear only towards the end of antiquity) were made not only on behalf of the tsar, but also on behalf of private individuals. In the tsar's letters, immunities-tax, administrative, and legal, are increasingly beginning to complain.

Thus, the seignorial rights begin to emerge. In areas where the vestiges of tribal relations were still strong and slavery could not destroy them, the tribal nobility turned into a feudal one, plundering the tribal land fund, placing the majority of the tribesmen in dependence on itself, using generic ties of subordination.
Externally, feudalization of rural communities and the formation of petty feudalitet were not so noticeable, but no less thoroughly. The communal elite, which seized controls, began to dispose freely of the land fund, bought land from ordinary members of the community, seized it for debts. Well-off community members gradually concentrated in their hands most of the arable land and turned the bulk of the community members into incomplete peasants. Bonded debt and bonded rent were transformed into forms of hereditary peasant dependence. Simultaneously, the number of slaves belonging to both the community and its well-off members begins to fall, apparently, and by the end of antiquity the community, formerly slave-like in nature, is beginning to turn into a feudal one; This process acquires an obvious character already in the subsequent, medieval era of India.

For all these reasons, there are important changes in the cast-kicking system. Varnovoe division of society in its value departs for the second bang though traditionally it is preserved. Not only artisans, but also farmers become in their majority sudras, vaisyas - small landowners and merchants; The importance of the hereditary military aristocracy-the Kshatriya-falls; And only varna brahmanas do not undergo significant changes. The main role was played by jati castes: their number increased, their isolation on the basis of endogamy became stronger, a caste hierarchy appeared within the varnas.

Feudalism In India.

The caste division also penetrates into the village. The intra-community differentiation that took place when the social and production functions were inherited by the community members led to the appearance of caste barriers. The highest castes in rural communities were agricultural. Serving communities - shepherds, potters, blacksmiths, carpenters, scavengers, etc. - comprised lower and unequal castes.
Feudalism In India.