Impact of Vedic Culture on Society
by Kaushik Acharya | 2020 | 120,081 words
This page relates ‘Systems of Administration (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.
Systems of Administration (Introduction)
[Full title: 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)]
A healthy culture requires the support of a strong and stable administration. Or as may be said, the administrative system is perhaps an inseparable part of the culture and it seems they complement each other. How simple or complex the administration will be depends on the diversity of people, size of the area covered and the predominant political inclination. Several technical terms have come up in the present discussion over and over again which are mostly related to administrative system and deserve special attention.
Vedic literature had been for a considerable time the main foundation of the tradition and culture of India.But a thorough research shows that there was no existence of a “state” in the sense it is defined in later concept. The essential elements of a “state” are never found in the formation of the territories referred to in the vedic literature. The proper idea of a state is not found in any source before the rise of the mahājanapadas in the 6th century BCE.