Chapter 1 · Topic 1.3 · Prelims + Mains3 of 3
Early Medieval India: Society, economy and culture
Key points
- New jatis formed; Kayasthas rose as scribes; untouchability hardened.
- Temples became landlords and banks; trade revived after about 1000 CE.
- Alvars and Nayanars, Tantra and Shankaracharya's Advaita (8th century).
- Regional literatures: Kavirajamarga (Kannada), Charyapada (early Bengali).
Prelims box: facts and traps
- Mitakshara: Vijnaneshvara; Dayabhaga: Jimutavahana (Bengal).
- Antyaja: groups outside the varnas, per Al-Biruni.
- Sati: more common among ruling groups.
Society, economy and culture
The early medieval centuries changed daily life as much as politics. New castes formed, temples grew rich, devotion (bhakti) spread and local languages found their voice. The table sums it up, and the sections below explain each part in plain words.
| Area | Key changes |
|---|---|
| Caste | Many new jatis; the Kayasthas (scribes) rise; untouchability hardens |
| Women | Sati becomes more common among ruling groups; some property rights in the Smriti commentaries |
| Economy | Agriculture spreads into forests; temples become landlords and banks; trade revives after about 1000 CE |
| Religion | Bhakti in the south (Alvars and Nayanars); Tantra; Shankaracharya’s Advaita (8th century) |
| Language | Regional languages and early forms of Kannada, Marathi, Bengali literature |
Caste: more groups, harder lines
As farming spread into forests, tribes were drawn into village society and given a place as new jatis (birth groups). Guilds of craftsmen also hardened into castes. The Kayasthas, a class of scribes and record-keepers, rose because kings and landlords needed people to write land grants and accounts, much like clerks in a government office. At the bottom, untouchability grew stricter. Al-Biruni, who came in the 11th century, wrote of groups called antyaja who were placed outside the four varnas.
Women
Among ruling families, sati became more common. Yet legal writers also spelled out some property rights. Two famous commentaries on inheritance (who gets family property) date from this age: the Mitakshara of Vijnaneshvara, followed in most of India, and the Dayabhaga of Jimutavahana, followed in Bengal. Both discuss a woman’s stridhana, the property that was her own.
Economy: temples as landlords and banks
Kings and rich donors gave temples land, cattle and gold. A big temple therefore owned villages, collected rent, lent money and employed priests, cooks, dancers, musicians and gardeners. In a way, a temple worked like a large company and a bank in one. After about 1000 CE, trade revived: merchant guilds sailed again to Southeast Asia, and new market towns grew.
Religion and ideas
In the Tamil south, the Alvars (devotees of Vishnu) and Nayanars (devotees of Shiva) sang songs of loving devotion in the people’s language. Tantra, with its rituals and goddess worship, spread in many regions. In the 8th century Shankaracharya taught Advaita, the idea that the self and the ultimate reality are one, and tradition credits him with founding monasteries (mathas) in the four corners of India.
Languages
Regional languages began to write their own literature. The Kavirajamarga (9th century), a book on Kannada poetry, was written at the Rashtrakuta court. Early Bengali appears in the Charyapada, songs of Buddhist mystics. Marathi and other languages took shape too.
Temple walls as a picture book
Mains 2022 asked: How will you explain that medieval Indian temple sculptures represent the social life of those days? Mains 2022 Use Khajuraho and Konark: musicians, dancers, soldiers, hunters, couples and craftsmen, and what they show about dress, festivals and the place of women.
Think of these walls as a picture book carved in stone. Since few ordinary people wrote anything down, the carvings are one of the best records of how they dressed, worked and enjoyed themselves.
How will you explain that medieval Indian temple sculptures represent the social life of those days?
What UPSC asks
Prelims: Kayasthas, temples, Bhakti. Mains: temple sculpture and society (2022). Next likely: temple economy today.
Mains box: analysis and answer points
- Temple sculpture and society (Mains 2022): Khajuraho and Konark scenes of daily life.
- Temple economy: land, lending, employment.
Practice
Practice MCQs (8)
Jayadeva, the poet of the Gita Govinda, is traditionally said to have adorned the court of
Answer (d) & explanation
Tradition places Jayadeva among the poets of the court of Lakshmana Sena (late twelfth century), the last major king of the Sena dynasty of Bengal, along with Dhoyi and Govardhana. The Senas, who came from Karnataka, had replaced the Palas in Bengal and were Brahmanical in faith, unlike the Buddhist Palas.
Bhoja (c. 1010-1055), the king of Dhara famed as a scholar and patron of learning to whom many Sanskrit works are attributed, belonged to the
Answer (a) & explanation
Raja Bhoja of the Paramara dynasty ruled Malwa from Dhara (Dhar). He is credited with works on poetics, grammar, architecture and medicine and became the model of the learned king in later legend. He is not to be confused with Mihira Bhoja, the ninth-century Gurjara-Pratihara emperor of Kanauj.
Consider the following statements:
1. The city of Ajmer was founded by a ruler of the Chahamana (Chauhan) dynasty.
2. Delhi first became the capital of a kingdom under the Tomara Rajputs, who were defeated in the middle of the twelfth century by the Chauhans of Ajmer.
3. Delhi was founded by the Gahadavala rulers of Kanauj.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (c) & explanation
Ajmer (Ajayameru) takes its name from the Chahamana king Ajayaraja, who founded it in the early twelfth century. Our Pasts II says that Delhi first became the capital of a kingdom under the Tomara Rajputs, who were defeated in the middle of the twelfth century by the Chauhans of Ajmer. Statement 3 is wrong: the Gahadavalas ruled Kanauj and Varanasi, not Delhi.
Consider the following pairs: Dynasty : Region
1. Chandelas : Bundelkhand (Jejakabhukti)
2. Paramaras : Malwa
3. Kalachuris (Chedis) : Region around Tripuri near Jabalpur
4. Chaulukyas (Solankis) : Gujarat
How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
Answer (d) & explanation
All four are correct. The Chandelas ruled Jejakabhukti (Bundelkhand) from Khajuraho, Kalanjar and Mahoba; the Paramaras ruled Malwa from Dhara; the Kalachuris of Chedi (Dahala) ruled from Tripuri near Jabalpur; and the Chaulukyas ruled Gujarat from Anahilapataka (Patan). Several of them began as Pratihara feudatories and became independent as Pratihara power declined in the tenth century.
According to the Agnikula legend in the form found in later versions of the Prithviraj Raso, four Rajput clans arose from a sacrificial fire-pit on Mount Abu. Which one of the following was NOT one of them?
Answer (a) & explanation
In the developed form of the Agnikula myth, the four 'fire-born' clans are the Pratiharas, Paramaras, Chahamanas (Chauhans) and Chaulukyas (Solankis). The Chandelas of Bundelkhand claimed instead a lunar descent. Historians read the myth as a way for new ruling groups to claim Kshatriya status, not as evidence of actual origin.
Anantavarman Chodaganga (late eleventh to early twelfth century), whose name reflects his Ganga descent on his father's side and his Chola connection on his mother's, ruled over
Answer (d) & explanation
Anantavarman Chodaganga of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, whose mother was a Chola princess, built a large kingdom in Kalinga, stretching from the Ganga delta region to the Godavari, with Odisha at its core. The Eastern Gangas held Odisha until the fifteenth century.
With reference to legal digests of the early medieval period, consider the following statements:
1. Lakshmidhara, a minister of the Gahadavala king Govindachandra, compiled the Kritya- kalpataru.
2. Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga became the basis of the Bengal school of Hindu law.
3. Hemadri, author of the Chaturvarga-chintamani, was a minister of the Kakatiya rulers of Warangal.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (b) & explanation
Lakshmidhara, minister of the Gahadavala king Govindachandra of Kanauj (twelfth century), compiled the encyclopaedic digest Kritya-kalpataru. Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga became the authority on inheritance in Bengal, in contrast to the Mitakshara elsewhere. Statement 3 is wrong: Hemadri served the Yadava kings of Devagiri, Mahadeva and Ramachandra, in the thirteenth century.
Titles such as 'ranaka', 'rautta' and 'thakkura', common in north Indian inscriptions of the tenth to twelfth centuries, denoted
Answer (b) & explanation
R.S. Sharma and Satish Chandra note that inscriptions of this period are full of titles for a hierarchy of landed intermediaries: rajas, ranakas, rauttas (rautas or rawats), thakkuras (thakurs) and samantas, who held land and men under a superior king. Several of these titles survive in modern Rajput and landholding surnames.
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In 150 words, explain the significance of Early Medieval India with one recent example.
Flashcards (2)
Scribe caste that rose in this period?
Kayasthas.
Who taught Advaita in the 8th century?
Shankaracharya.
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