Brahmanas of Bengal ...

2017

1991

Puravritta: Journal of the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Government of West Bengal 3, pp. 27-36, 2021

Located on the west bank of the Dharala river in the present Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, Kāmatāpur has been the capital of the two important local powers, the Khens and the Koches: the former established themselves there in the first half of the fifteenth century and the latter kept their political centre in the same place from the sixteenth century onwards. The relationship between the two powers was not definitely known. What they had in common were i) their establishment in a buffer zone between the Bengal Sultanate and the Ahoms, ii) their tribal origin on the fringes of sedentary agrarian society, and iii) their aspirations for upward mobility. Brahmins from Mithila and Bengal, in their own interest, tolerated or even encouraged vertical social mobility of both the Khen and Koch chiefs. But the relationship between local powers and immigrant brahmins was replete with tension and friction. Focusing on popular narratives of Kāmatāpur and their historical context, this article discusses the cause of their conflict and questions the Brahmanical hegemony which is often taken for granted in Bengal society.

The Book Review, December 2020, pp.1-3

2017

The inscriptions of early Odisha are replete with land donations to the brāhmaṇas, which contributed crucially to the legitimisation of polity. The early state emerged as a result of several factors, and particularly land grants through which the rulers were able to extend agriculture, mobilize resources and redistribute these resources. By donating lands to the brāhmaṇas, the kings in addition to the economic gains this brought about, were also able to acquire ideological ratifi cation for their rule. This is because the brāhmaṇas composed genealogies for the rulers, and provided a ritual status for them. The Dharmaśāstras were categorical that the brāhmaṇas were not supposed to be engaged in anything other than the production of knowledge. To cultivate the lands granted to them, the brāhmaṇas, therefore, had to secure the labour of the local communities. It is in this context that alongside the lands, which were donated for their own upkeep or of temples, minor occupational castes came up and helped to create a hegemonic framework within the realm for the brāhmaṇas. This article explores the power relation between different strata, focusing on the central factor of the subordination of the cultivators and other groups to the upper caste brāhmaṇas in the rural society of early Odisha. The land grants reinforced the social importance of the brāhmaṇas and their institutional control over the other occupational groups as seen from the inscriptions between the 5 th and 12 th centuries CE. The emergence of social hierarchies organised around caste and class identities marks the cultural environment in which brahmanical hegemony can be located. Establishing the Notion of Class and Hierarchy through the Inscriptions The earliest inscriptions that have been studied in this paper were issued by the Māṭhara kings. Around 5 th century CE, Nandaprabhaňjanavarman donated a village named Ḍeyavāṭa to a brāhmaṇa, Hariścandrasvāmin of the Akṣatagrahāra, and made it tax free to gain 'religious merit'. 1 Likewise in the Śailodbhava period, in the Ganjam Plates of Mādhavarāja (620 CE) the donor states that to enhance the religious merit of the king and his parents, land was granted to brāhmaṇa Charampasvāmin. 2 Cchavalakkhaya grāma in Kṛṣṇagiri viṣaya had been donated to this brāhmaṇa who belonged to the Bhāradvāja gotra. 3 In the Khurda Plates of Śrī Mādhavarāja in 7 th century CE, a land grant for the religious merit of the donor king and his parents were again mentioned. 4 In the Buguda Plates of Mādhavavarman (633 CE), Puipina grāma within Khadira pāṭaka under Guḍḍa viṣaya was donated to Bhaṭṭa Vāmana, the son

Puravritta, 2017

This paper looks at the making of three spatial units of early medieval Bengal that is also known as the Trans-Meghna sub-regional node, comprised of Srihatta, Samatata and Harikela. In spite of internal differences these three spatial units have commonality in physiography. Located in present-day Bangladesh, on the eastern side of the river Meghna, navigable water-bodies and marshy lands are prominent features of these units. This had impact on the nature of land donation. Large-scale of presence of non-Brahmanic religious establishments can also be noticed here. All of these together makes this sub-regional node an interesting study from the point of view of histories of regions during early medieval period.

This article shows how Brahmanism was a regional tradition, confined to the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent, that passed through a difficult period—which it barely survived—roughly between the time of Alexander and the beginning of the Common Era. It then reinvented itself, in a different shape. No longer primarily a sacrificial tradition, it became a mainly socio-political ideology that borrowed much (including the belief in rebirth and karmic retribution) from the eastern region in which Buddhism and Jainism had arisen. Its revival went hand in hand with the elaboration of behavioural and theoretical innovations, one of whose purposes was to justify the claimed superiority of Brahmins.