History • Ancient IndiaHard
In the context of post-Mauryan and Gupta epigraphy, what specific administrative or fiscal privilege was indicated by the term 'Agrahara' grants?
A. Grants of revenue-free land made exclusively to Brahmanas for religious and educational purposes✓ Correct Answer
B. Tolls levied on merchants crossing territorial boundaries during long-distance trade expeditions
C. Forced labor exacted from lower castes for the construction of royal irrigation tanks
D. Annual tribute paid by vassal chieftains to the imperial sovereign to maintain autonomy
💡 Solution & Explanation
Agrahara grants represented tax-exempt villages or plots of land donated primarily to learned Brahmanas to sustain temples, Vedic studies, and charitable institutions. Such grants often transferred administrative and judicial rights over the resident cultivators to the donees, accelerating feudal tendencies in agrarian relations. Tolls and commercial cesses were designated by terms like sulka, while forced labor was known as vishti. These endowments played a pivotal role in the expansion of agriculture into forested tracts across early medieval India.
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