Indian feudalism, land and rural economy
Whole chapter · 12–18 focused hours
Early medieval north India (750 to 1200)
A first-attempt learner with school-level reading and little retained ancient/medieval history or art history. Later chapters assume the earlier chronological context; History optional and practical arts training are outside scope.
Includes
- Selected explanatory readings, images/maps and source extracts
- Brief chronology or comparison notes
- Available mapped practice, mistake review and one initial recall review
Separate time needed
- Subsequent spaced revision and full mock examinations
- Reading every reference book and optional exercise in full
- Delhi Sultanate institutions and campaigns after 1206 are assigned separately; no full religious-history reread.
Editorial planning estimate; not measured learner time
- Indian feudalism: land grants, samantas, lord-vassal relationship, decentralised authority; the debate on its existence
- Village officers mahattara and pattakila; grama, khetas, and the headman's role
- Araghatta: the wheel with pots (Persian wheel prototype) for irrigation; tanks and wells
- Hundi as a bill of exchange, revival of trade after 1000 CE, Banjaras as itinerant traders, Arab trade on the west coast
- Agrarian expansion, land grants to temples and brahmanas, proliferation of jatis
Where to study this topic
- R.S. Sharma, India's Ancient Past (publisher page with table of contents) ↗
ch. 31
- Themes in Indian History Part II, Class XII (prelims and contents) ↗
Theme 5
- History of Medieval India (Satish Chandra), verified publisher contents ↗
Chapters 2, 4 and 5: regional competition, society and conquest; use only sections filling gaps in the assigned school-text readings.
Whole chapter reading
- Tamil Nadu State Board Class XI History Volume I (lessons 1 to 11), full text ↗
Lesson 8 regional kingdoms and Lesson 10 sections on Arab/Turkish entry before the Delhi Sultanate
- History of Medieval India (Satish Chandra), verified publisher contents ↗
Chapters 2, 4 and 5: regional competition, society and conquest; use only sections filling gaps in the assigned school-text readings.
Book required