Evolving Land Ownership and Economic Paradigms in Ancient India: From Vedic Age to Post-Gupta Period

Abstract

Ancient Indian land gifts and the idea of land ownership are the focus of this research article. During this time, there were major shifts and developments in the theoretical understanding of land ownership and the land grant. Private land ownership with alienation rights in Ancient India was primarily possessed by the priestly elite and was gained via land grants. Private land ownership evolved into a critical social institution throughout time. Not all landholding classes, however, were affected by this. Other types of assignees were tightly supervised by the rulers. It was possible to seize and transfer their land. From the latter half of the Gupta era until the rise of the Delhi Sultanate, land and the ownership rights to it were fundamental to all spheres of society, including religion, politics, economics, and culture. A combination of factors, including the period's economic crisis and the fact that land served as a medium of social mobilisation and social position, led to the state granting land to officers, religious groups, and establishments in return for services. Society became more complex and stratified. The amount and variety of primary and secondary sources used for this article are enormous. An essential feature that influenced the country's social, political, religious, and economic history has been illuminated via a monograph that draws on epigraphs, inscriptions, coins, cowries, and manuscripts.