Impact of Vedic Culture on Society
by Kaushik Acharya | 2020 | 120,081 words
This page relates ‘Social Mobility of the Vedic Brahmanas (Introduction)’ of the study on the Impact of Vedic Culture on Society as Reflected in Select Sanskrit Inscriptions found in Northern India (4th Century CE to 12th Century CE). These pages discuss the ancient Indian tradition of Dana (making gifts, donation). They further study the migration, rituals and religious activities of Brahmanas and reveal how kings of northern India granted lands for the purpose of austerities and Vedic education.
Social Mobility of the Vedic Brāhmaṇas (Introduction)
[Full title: Social Mobility of the Vedic Brāhmaṇas and Spread of Vedic Culture in Early and Early-Medieval Period (Introduction)]
The migration of different groups and communities in the Indian subcontinent through the ages is a fascinating story of social dynamism.Social mobility is a migration of people from one place to another new geographic location to settle permanently or temporarily to get certain privileges. Immigration has existed during the whole history of humankind, and people have moved from their home places for centuries, for many reasons. Long ago, different tribes from past roamed in search of new grassy fields for their livestock, new areas for hunting, and fishing. Afterwards people started to migrate, in search of more fertile lands and created new settlements. Today migration still takes place all around the world, mostly for suitable workplace or career, for the betterment of education and the like. Mobility or emigration is the process that takes place when an individual or a group migrates to one country intending to settle down permanently in that country for the sake of personal conveniences.
Since ancient times in India, the movement is often over long distances (as to another country), but internal migration or domestic migration is also taking place; indeed, this is the dominant form globally till today. From inscriptional pieces of evidence of northern India, we may experience such emigrations of vedic brāhmaṇas in early and early medieval periods. Vedic brāhmaṇas were brought from one place to other provinces mostly to perform vedic sacrifices or to initiate vedic teachings. Naturally, if someone is brought from another location, they have to be provided with some additional benefits as well. The same applies to the vedic brāhmaṇas. The rulers brought them and granted properties forthe increase of religious merit and fame of their parents and themselves,[1] and the brāhmaṇas also received great benefits from the kings. They received land as donations, whatever be the reason, and most of the time, they did not have to pay any kind of taxes.
The life of the primitive human being had been influenced by the geographical factors and the environment in which he lived. People have travelled far or near in search of new permanent domicile. These movements sometimes were confined to boundaries of their homelands or ranged over the whole country or continuedfrom one country to another. Socio-economic and political causes have all played their parts in human migration. The migration of the vedic brahmins in Northern India in early and early medieval period is no exception.
In some cases the reason for migration may be to choose a new home for a better life and adequate food. According to some scholars,[2] the Aryans left the deserts of Central Asia for more prosperous and more fertile regions of Central Punjab and the Upper Ganges valley. In Northern India, migrations of vedic brāhmaṇas from one part to another, are recorded in the inscriptions,mostly land-grant charters, as discussed earlier. Some of the reasons for migration, as mentioned above, can be applied to these vedic brāhmaṇas, and they will be presented with examples later. Conveniently, their migration history isbeing studied at various stages in the early and medieval ages. Encouraged by findings from the inscriptional and literary sources and views of several scholars, we have tried to make a compact study of the issue in this chapter. By reviewing those sources together, we may get an idea about the centers of migration of vedic brāhmaṇas during the period under study.
Footnotes and references:
[1]: