Summary of Contents

The present study contains the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction.

Chapter 2: Concept of Dāna and Nature of Donee Brāhmaṇas.

Chapter 3: Social Mobility of the Vedic Brāhmaṇas and Spread of Vedic Culture in Early and Early-Medieval Period.

Chapter 4: Socio-cultural Scenario of Northern India in Early and Early Mediaeval Period: Religious Patronage, Inter-mingling of Cultures and Religious Tolerance.

Chapter 5: A Comparative Study of the Systems of Administration Prevalent in the Vedic Period and the Early and Early Medieval Period with Special Reference to the Ṛgveda and Select Sanskrit Inscriptions (4th Century CE.-12thCentury CE).

Chapter 6: Concluding Remarks.

Citation Bibliography.

The Introduction which is also the first chapter of the thesis gives an overview of the topic of research with brief comments on the relevant points. It also contains the statement of research methodology followed in the work.

The second chapter is all about dāna and donee brāhmaṇas associated with land management such as donor of the land, the procedures for land donation, varieties of assignments, the purpose of those grants, tenure, ownership, security and protection of the grant, the agricultural and economical development and others. This chapter discusses the Indian tradition Dāna and the diversity of it and its brief history during the times of the Vedas, Dharmaśāstras, Mahābhārata, Purāṇas, and others. Furthermore, it highlights the position and status of vedic brāhmaṇas in the society. This current chapter deals with six different sections but interconnected to each other.

The third chapter deals with the migration of the vedic brāhmaṇas which was primarily responsible for the spread of vedic culture in northern India during the early and early medieval period. The land grant charters also mentioning the migration of the vedic brāhmaṇas relatively huge in number. These migrant vedic brāhmaṇas emerged as an important group in society along with non-immigrants. How they spread their influence in all parts of northern India through migration, and how the vedic environment was created automatically in those places and the probable reasons that prompted those movements is discussed in detail in this chapter. In the first portion of this third chapter deals with the inscriptions issued during early and early medieval periods that records migration of such brāhmaṇas. Then some examples of immigration are given from some contemporary literatures. It is noteworthy that as per the inscriptional records in the early period, the instances of migration of vedic brāhmaṇas were few, and before the 6th century they were confined to Gujarat mostly. Later they became more frequent in number and moved to several places. During these years, particular regions appear as centers of emigration, and the mainstream of movement was towards western and eastern areas from middle India. However, in this study, it may be noticed that the migrations were mostly interprovincial. Whatever it is, there is no doubt that vedic culture spread to major regions and gradually established itself at every level of the society during the period under discussion.

The fourth chapter discusses the socio-cultural scenario of northern India during the period under study. Worship of the gods and goddesses is an essential ritual in Brahmanism. The gods belong to different groups and are supposed to live in different worlds,^[1] but they all belong to one large family. Rituals were not complicated and elaborate during the early vedic period. Nevertheless, strict conventions of the expensive vedic rituals were confined to the more affluent sections of the society. The gradually growing influence of purāṇic culture, the emergence of purāṇic deities in the pantheon, the impact of vedic culture and the mingling of the vedic and purāṇic cultures can be studied from several sources like creative literature, scriptures, inscriptions, and coins. There are plenty of references to kings holding epithets like Parama- vaiṣṇava, Parama-Māheśvara, Parama-Bhāgavata and the like and at the same time performing several vedic sacrifices. In many Sanskrit inscriptions of northern India we find a considerable number of instances of such cultural intermingling. It is also found that orthodox vedic and purāṇic ritualistic practices existed side by side with other heretical ones like Buddhism and Jainism which is an excellent example of the religious generosity and tolerance present at that time. It is definitely a proof of the diverse and colourful character of the ancient Indian religious scenario. Brahmanism, Buddhism and Jainism were the main religious beliefs with vedic traditions in early and early medieval periods in India, and they coexisted peacefully having received extensive patronage from the kings. In the inscriptions, it is observed that the people gained complete freedom in the choice of faith and in the outward practice of worship, even though the kings had their personal beliefs and practices in their private lives. The greatness of vedic culture was deeply rooted in society is shown through the three sections of this chapter viz. Religious Patronage, Intermingling of Cultures and Religious Tolerance.

A comparative study of the administrative systems between the vedic texts and the early-medieval Inscriptions is the subject of the fifth chapter. A healthy culture requires a strong and stable administration. A good administrative system not only helps the culture to grow and develop, it also complements the other. A proper administration is largely responsible for a healthy lifestyle. However, the degree of complexity in an administration depends on the diversity of people, extension of the area and the political environment. Several technical terms have come up in the present discussion over and over again. It turns out that those terms are mostly related to administration. We have discussed those technical terms and a comparative discussion with vedic administration is done in this chapter. Despite the vedic influence in each case that we discussed earlier, there is no difficulty in acknowledging that, in the administrative field, the vedic influence is not very strong. But there are enough reasons behind it. If we compare today’s administration with the administration during the medieval periods, the same difference will be noticed. In this chapter, we have discussed the technical words of the simple administration of the vedic times and then reviewed some technical terms related to the administration during the early and medieval periods.

The final chapter of the thesis gives an overall summary of the work with brief comments on relevant points and the findings of the research. It also contains the prospects of future research that highlights two modern methods viz. ‘The Radiocarbon Dating’ or ‘Carbon Dating’ and ‘The Thermo-luminescence Dating’ method which could be useful to date the historical artifacts, inscriptions, cultural architecture or idols or even to cross-check the established views to make our statements stronger scientifically.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

According to Yāska, there are only three deities by location—agniḥ pṛthivisthāno, vdyurvendro vā antarikṣasthānaḥ, sūryo dyusthānaḥ, (Nirukta, VII. 5).