The Indian Economic and w, Vol. XVIM, Nos 3 and 4 Peasant State and Society in Medieval South Indiz A Review Article* R. CHAMPAKALAKSHMI Working towards an analysis of the modern agricultural development in the Madras Presidency of the “British period” and its successor administrative units in independent India, Burton Stein found himself carried backwards in time to study the medieval South Indian state and society to prepare the foundation for such an analysis. The result is a refreshingly new vision of the South Indian past and a provocative albeit interesting critique of the historiography of the Chola and Vijayanagar state in his book The Peasant State and Society in Medieval India. This book represents the culmination of Stein’s efforts! to provide a conceptual framework to the empirical data on South Indian state and society, marking a definitive step forward in South Indian historiography. The 488 page elaboration of this new vision of the state has for its model ‘the segmentary state’ as seen in the Alur Society (Africa) by Aidan Southall,? a concept extended to its logical abstraction for application to a peasant society, in no way similar to the tribal society of the African model. Yet, the concept has proved to be worthy of serious note in the South Indian context, given the unsatisfactory descriptions so farp resen- ted of the Chola state.* Stein’s criticism of established historiography is mainly methodological, for conventional historians like K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, T.V. Mahalingam and others “never discuss the state and the economy as interacting aspects of a political or social system’, and describe the Chola state as a ‘Byzan- *Burton Stein, Peasant State and Society in Medieval India, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1980, pp. 488, Rs. 135. 1Stein’s present book represents a collection of his earlier essays on various aspects of South Indian society and state with additions in the form of integrative sections. 2Among the many adherents to this theory like B, Stein, Richard Fox, H. Kulke and others, Stein is the most consistent. See his “The Segmentary State in South Indian History,” in Richard Fox, (Ed.), Realm and Region in Traditional India, New Delhi, 1977. 8Mainly in the works of K.A. Nilakanta Sastri and T.V. Mahalingam. Colas, Madras, 1955 and South Indian Polity, Madras, 1955. The412 R. CHAMPAKALAKSHMI tine monarchy’ with a highly centralised bureaucracy. They expound the concepts of a centralised state and local self-government by village iction, due to their failure to assemblies, unaware of” the obvious cont correlate socio-economic processes and political organisation Attributing much of the “poor history” to a complete lack of serious studies‘ on agrarian organisation, Stein proceeds to analyse the agrarian basis of South India during the Chola and post-Chola periods as the central problem of his study. His emphasis, throughout, is on the interaction of Brahmins and localised peasant folk as the primary nexus of this peasant society and the nadu as the basic agrarian and ethnic unit of this peasant state Stein’s macro region, Coromandel, i.e., peninsular India south of the Karnataka watershed, is shown to be a viable unit with social, cultural and political elements shared to a high degree, added to which is the fact that it represented the maximum extent of Chola overlordship and provenance of Tamil language inscriptions of that period. Parts of South Karnataka (Karmandalam-Gangavadi) are added due to their historical ks with the Tamil plain, and portions of Andhra and Orissa coastal plain on non-physical criteria like interaction. Stein excludes Kerala on the basis of the presence of warrior lineages, i.e. Nayars in Kerala, and the total absence of the Kshatriya institution in the Tamil region. His contention that Kerala’s interaction with Tamil areas was of “lower order” is evidently due to his lack of familiarity with the sources from Kerala and inadequate understanding of the nature of interaction, at least in the early period.° Ina broad sweeping survey of the pre-Chola agrarian developments Stein takes up the proto-historic megalithic settlements as his starting point and regards them as the /oci of peasant settlements during the historical period. The ecological divisions of the Sangam period called the finais are seen as many well-established variants of a single general culture, providing the “Dravidian” foundation of South Indian life which survived well into modern times, a foundation preserved and protec- ted by the “segmentary” character of that society and culture. One is prepared to accept broadly that Stein’s observations on the megalithic settlements® and the Sangam finais are perceptive as also h view that the gradual assimilation of “Indo-Aryan” culture was “the work of South Indian men,” although the details of the complex development ‘This may be attributed to problems of a methodological character and the vagueness of concepts like “peasant society”. Both in the “Sangam” period and during the period of the bhakti movement and even upto the eleventh century A.b. the interaction is fairly close. ®See R. Champakalakshmi, “Archaeology and Tamil Literary Tradition” in Puratattva, (Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of India), No. 8, 1975-76.Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India 413 of the agrarian and social structure of the T: are yet to be worked out. The post-Sangam period—“the Kalabhra period”—is seen as a turning point when non-peasant people of the highland made the strongest bid to control peasant people of the lowland—a result of the hostility which existed from the very beginning between the two. Peasant folk regained their dominance and after the 7th century retained it, steadi mils through these periods encroaching upon non-peasant people. Such a view of the post-Sangam period, usually treated by conventional historians as a “dark period’ would seem to be certainly amore logical interpretation of the lack of any significant historical records before the emergence of the Pallavas. Stein regards this as the principal dichotomy in the agrarian development of the pre-7th century Tamilakam, where peasant settlements emerged in the fertile river valleys of Kaveri, Pennar, Ponnaiyar, Ceyyar and Palar with subsidiary clusters around the Vaigai and Tamraparni. They were isolated by inhospitable tracts of dry, hilly and forest tribal settlements But to extend this dichotomy to ideological differences, between Jainism providing legitimacy to tribal warriors and ‘Aryan’ respectability against the contemporary peasant culture seeking legitimacy through ‘Hindu’ religion, is to misread the role of the non-orthodox religions in the socio-religious development of the Tamils. Stein’s dichotomies are easy traps for anyone unfamiliar with the primary sources, e.g. (a) his equation of brahmadeyas with rural cultures as bastions of plains culture, and towns asthe bastions of Jain and Buddhist- influence in Pallava times. There is indeed no such clearcut division; (b) his characterisation of the violent religious conflict from the 7th century A.D. as between peasant and non-peasant folk or. between peasants of rural areas with the more “‘cosmopolitan”\townsfolk. Although it is true that Jainism provided a very important ideological element in the critical period of religious conflict between the Brahmanical sects on the one hand and the Buddhist and Jain sects on the other, it does not reflect a simple rural-urban or peasant-non-peasant conflict. The ideologi- cal components in this struggle are too complex to be defined easily as one of rural-urban differences. Rather, material support for Jainism came from both, as much as it did for the Brahmanical sects, the urban nilieu creating the need for the emergence of a new ideology i.e. bhakti for the ‘revival’ of Brahmanical forms and their spread into more remote rural and hill areas.” Taking a gradualist view Stein rejects the characterisation of the See R. Champakalakshmi, “The Bhakti Movement and Religious Persecution in the Tamil Country,” Indian History Congress Proceedings, Calicut, 1977 and *Religious Conflict in the Tamil Country: A Re-appraisal of Epigraphic Evidence,’ Journal of the Epigraphical Society of India, Vol. V, 1978.4i4 R. CHAMPAKALAKSHMI Pallava period (7th-9th centuries A..) as one of transition, of great change and disjunction, Sanskritisation was well advanced and the basic agrarian structure, with the Brahmin-peasant alliance, well evolved The nadu—the peasant micro region—dated from pre-Chola times and as the prime unit of social and agrarian organisation provided the basis for the Chola political order, ie. the segmentary state. As the basic ethnic- ecological unit, the nadu was used most effectively by the Chola, the technical processes of thesegmentary state having been started even by the Pallavas. These nadu segments, with their complementarily opposing constituent elements, were built up in a pyramidal segmentation by the overarching ritual sovereignty of the Cholas, a dharmic universe realised through the sacral kingship of the Cholas. The interaction of toe dominant peasantry of the nadu and the Brah- mins of the brahmadeya, as the primary nexus of this peasant society, was the fundamental defining characteristic of the period. The alliance was voluntary and mutually beneficial. The brahmadeya, with its Sabha (assembly), was the nodal point of the diffusion of royal (de jure) authority. The 1 2th-13th centuries are seen asa transition to supra-local integration through the emergence of periya-nadu assemblies, weakening of nadu assemblies, emergence of towns through temple urbanisatior a new tier of centres of civilisation, displacing the earlier centres like brahmadeyas and greater non-Brahmin participation in ritual worship pointing to the changing cultural context. In fact, Stein recognises a major shift from an agrarian base of power and an altered power structure As a sequel to his whole thesis, Stein discusses the Vijayanagar state in an attempt to show that the segmentary character of the state continu ed but the segments themselves were different, the nadu units having declined. The above brief summary of Stein’s work is intended to give an over- all picture of the broad spectrum study of nearly 17 centuries (his longi- tudinal interest) and {the wide scope of his analysis in his rather loosely- knit chapters. It would also provide us with the necessary background to the discussion that follows. Starting with the nadu, which is the prime focus of his study, it may be pointed out that Stein’s discussion of the nadu, as the peasant micro region and the nadu, the assembly of that region, which is crucial to his theory of the segmentary state, is based almost entirely on Subbarayalu’s work.§ Defining a peasant eco-type as a system consisting of two sets of agricultural relationships, the first involving organic elements like human and animal power and nature of crops and the second involving inorga- 8Y. Subbarayalu, Political Geography of the Chola Country, Madras, 1973.Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India 41S nic agencies like agricultural technology, Stein resorts to a simple three- fold classification of wet land (nancai), dry land (puncai) and swidden plots, His assumption that technology remained unchanged for a thousand years is based more on non-availability of evidence than on anything else, of which Stein himself is aware (p. 29). Stein relates the pattern of nadu distribution to the above eco-types and presents a three zone distribution of nadus into central (Chola mandalam), intermediary (Nadu- vil nadu, Tondaimandalam, and Pandimandalam) and peripheral (Kon mandalam and Gangavadi). The varying size and density of population of the nadus of these different regions as depending upon their proximity to or distance from the river systems is again derived from Subbarayalu’s careful mapping of the nadus. What is new in Stein’s work is the distine tion made in the nature of segmentation in each of these zones, a vertical segmentation in the central zone (a) based mainly on the prevalence of “a hierarchy of ranked elements” (p. 135), a horizontal one in the inter- mediary zones, (b) where nosuch hierarchy of relationships existed (p. 139) and neither in the peripheral zones which were least hospitable to seden- tary agriculture, (c) and possessed “the strongest tribal characteristics” This part of Stein's chapter on the nadu is the most ambiguous and least supported by documentation. The nadu is described as an ethnically coherent unit, its characteristic features being restricted marriage and kinship networks (cross-cousin and uncle-niece marriages). The composition of the nadu assembly is said to be the dominant peasantry (Velalas) of the Vellan Vagai Villages (urs), where again Stein closely follows Subbarayalu’s findings. The composition of the nadu assembly is a rather tricky problem, for there seems to be a gradual change in its components. Initially, however, the nadu may have represen ted the dominant-Velala land controlling groups but with the changing agrarian order of the 12th-13th centuries, other groups like merchants, weavers etc., who also acquired control over land, seem to have partici- pated in the decision-making processes of the nadu.® Stein locates executive authority in the more populous, diverse and wealthy localities of the macro region, in the persons designated as Mu Venda Velar and Mummadi. However, his acceptance of the Tamil Lexicon’s too simplistic interpretation of the term Muvenda-Velar as Velar (Velalas) of the three kings, hardly helps to explain their status. For Stein regards them at best as locality chiefs who recognised the ritual sovereignty of the Cholas as indicated by the Chola prefixes to their designation and not as oFor the changing agrarian order, see N. Karashima, “The New Agrarian Order ‘Appearing in the Lower Kaveri Valley Towards the Close of the Cola Rule”- Paper presented to the V International Conference—Seminar of Tamil Studies, Madurai. Mimeograph. “Land Transfer as seen in the Later Cola Inscriptions of Vedaranyam’” in N. Jagadcesan and S. Jeyapragasam (Eds.), Homage to a Historian. A Festschrift, Madurai, 1976.416 R. CHAMPAKALAKSHMI royal officials or central officers. It would appear that the claim in this title is more to descent from the age-old Velir of the Sangam period, when such landed chiefs had close matrimonial ties with the three crowned kings (mu vendar). Descent from such chiefs gave an added socio-political importance to the holder of the tile and was recognised as such by the Cholas, who vested them with political authority” in an attempt to exercise a more direct political control over such localities through “powerful” local personages. The title adikarigal Prefixed to some of them would indicate such delegation of authority Their role in the supervision of temple affairs, auditing of temple accounts and redistribution of temple resources not only in the core region but in remote parts of the kingdom" would also establish that they provided the main political links between the king and the locality. Obviously different from other chieftains such as Paluvettaraiyar, Malaiyaman, Irungovel and Kadavarayan etc., they derived their authority directly from the rulers. They seem to make up part of the Chola ‘bureaucracy’, hows ever tenuously it may have been organised. One can hardly find any other explanation for the emergence and disappearance of the muvenda velar coinciding with the rise and fall of the Cholas. In effect, they wielded a special status as a two pronged instrument of power. Stein seems to be a little too anxious to emphasise their status as mere locality chiefs in densely settled pluralistic localities, with a ritual linkage or formal alle- giance to the Cholas. But he fails to back up his statement with the necessary empirical data on their numerical strength and locality distribu- tion. Stein also overlooks the existence of Nadu udaiyan, Nadalvan® and Nadu Kilavan when he says that there was no nadu chief (local executive) in the central portion of the Kaveri basin and Tondaimandalam similar to the gavunda, prabhu and perggade of Karnataka and Kongu nadu Stein correctly regards the nadu signatories to royal grants as signi- ficant. However, his understanding of the role of the madhyastas seems to be incorrect, as he considers them locally powerful personages acting as arbitrators in decisions involving locality problems. The madhyasta was neither an impartial mediator nor an arbitrator. Being invariably associa- ted with land grants, he would appear to be a royal nominee from among local magnates for supervising the execution of a grant in all its details, 10See N. Karashima and Y. Subbarayalu, “A Statistical Study of Personal Names in Tamil Inscriptions, Interim Report II,’’ Computational Analyses of Asian and African Languages, No. 3, 1976. 14In places like Tiruvorriyur, Tiruverkadu (both near Madras) temple records refer to such functions as auditing 32N. Karashima, Y. Subbarayalu and T. Malsui, A Concordance of the Names in the Cola Inscriptions, Vol. 1, Madurai, 1978. Appendix 3.Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India 417 i recent study"? of the personal names in the Chola inscriptions has listed Feveral officers of various levels viz., central, royal, nadu level and. village Incl and of different ranks, which Stein seems to have completely ignored. The absence of any reference to such officers in Stein's work is all the Mowe curious since they are all too familiar from the conventional historians’ works. ‘Another serious omission in Stein’s analysis of the nadu is the role of the Valanadus, the formation of which is assigned to Rajaraja I and a reorganisation to Kulottunga I. On both occasions the Valanadu organi- sation coincided with the two major revenue surveys carried out by the lwo rulers in A.D. 1002 and A.D. 1086. Valanadu appears to be a revenue unit™ and in ignoring it totally, Stein seems to be evading an important fiece of evidence which would support an argument in favour of Chola attempts at centralising revenue arrangements, whatever the agencies of collection. The second major focus of Stein’s analysis is the brahmadeya. In his chapter on the Coromandel brahmadeya village, Stein sets forth with jreater clarity the role of the brahmadeya in the process of socio-cultural ind political integration. Emphasising the reciprocal advantage in the iclationship between Brahmins and peasants,¥* he describes the brahmadeya fg an accurate ‘marker’ of the most mature agrarian localities in the macro Iegion. He provides a useful map plotting'300 such brahmadeyas, most of Which were below the 250 foot contour. However, this is by no means an lihaustive representation for many more are listed in the annual reports after 1915 with which Stein’s data stops.’* What is, however, more interesting is the distinction that he makes between brahmadeyas with ‘central place functions’ and others of lesser importance implying a hierarchy among brahmadeyas, a line of investiga- fon well worth pursuing. Such “central brahmadeya villages” no doubt 18]bid., 3 Volumes. iy. Subbarayalu, Political Geography of the Chola Country, Chapters Vi and X. Subbarayalu also emphasises that while the Valanadu was a state contrivance, Voty Title positive evidence is available to show that it replaced the navit unis ae Administrative unit. This set-up was perhaps introduced also with the Durpuee of integrating the territories of the older chieftaincies into the growing C hola kingdom, tg. as in the case of Naduvil Nadu—Ibid., Chapter VIII isin talking of a Brahmin-dominant peasant alliance, one forgets the position ‘ofthe Brahmin temple-priests, who were more often employees ofthe temple and Sere in the same relation to the land-controlling Brahmin-Velala groups other Jower agricultural and artisan groups. So was it a domin t-Brahmin-dominant- Yelala alliance that is meant here? ‘sFurther work in this direction has already yielded evidence of many more fvahmadeyas in the Kumbakonam taluk. See R. Champakalakshmi, “Growth of Vrban Centres in South India: Kudamukku-Palaiyarai, the Twin City of the Colas,” Studies in History, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan-June 1979, p. 5418 R. CHAMPAKALAKSHME provide the clearest evidence of the presence of Chola authority in peasant micro regions, but it is curious that Stein chooses all his examples of such centres from beyond the Kaveri region e.g. Uttaramerur, Tribhuvanis Ennayiram etc. and not one from the core or delta region. Stein repeatedly | points out that the Sabhas of central brahmadeyas maintained an elaborate and enduring network of relationships with other institutions, other minor brahmadeyas as well as non-Brahmin settlements but fails to highlight the nature of this relationship beyond the statement that the objective was the transmission of sacred and semi-sacred lore. Stein’s characterisation of all brahmadeyas as great rural centres is hardly in keeping;with the development of some major ones. The status of a taniyur (tan-kuru) attained by some of these settlements would show theit growing importance and changing character, especially where brahmadeyas acquired statellite settlements and where mercantile and artisan groups comprised an important segment of the population. While one cannot deny the basic rural origins of brahmadeyas, there is clear evidence of some of them becoming the nuclei of huge urban complexes like Kudamukku (modern Kumbakonam).”” Stein has been able to successfully demonstrate the integrative role of the brahmadeya in a segmented society of many isolated peasant localities —the vital hinge in the macro-regional culture. The decline of the Brahmin villages which Stein dates after the twelfth century, is attributed only partly to divergent aims between peasants and Brahmins or outside pressures but more to forces which were generated within. He, however, does not expatiate on this. In fact, Stein fails to see that the reason lies in the changing, or rather decreasing, role of the brah- madeya in socio-political integration. From being a very active institutional Pandya periods, its role becomes increa- singly formal in the Chola period. Instead, the temple takes over as the main institutional base right from the period of Parantaka I (early 10th century A.p.).° Together with the growing importance of the temple, } temple administration was also increasingly shared by the dominant non Brahmin landed groups. Recognition by the Cholas of the nadu asa viable administrative unit, the need for associating the local landed elite (domi- | nant Velalas) in the building up of their political influence and the temple as the visible symbol and institutional base of royal authority were the thre nt factors which contributed to the establishment of Chola e of integration in the Pallav for signifi power Abid. 18In fact Parantaka I's reign, when prolific temple building activity begins, is of greater significance in the forging of institutional links for territorial sovereignty, which Rajaraja I and Rajendra I merely continued through the royal cult of Siva and their “imperial” temples.Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India 419 The whole concept of supra-local integration through the emergence of periya nadu assemblies is based on a wrong assessment of the role of the periya nadu. Stein’s understanding of the Citrameli periya nadu (Citrameli being an invariable prefix to the periya nadu) closely follows that of Sub- barayalu and of conventional historians like T.V. Mahalingam, for he takes it to be an assembly but not with explicit delegated functions of a provincial assembly as held by K.V. Subramania Ayyar. Some guilds like those of the Kaikkolas or weavers called Maha nadu or Manadu, terms similar to Periya nadu, are not treated as provincial or territorial or supra- local assemblies. Stein, however, is not able to show a clear grouping of nadus into a periya nadu, for to him, the supra-local region was vague and of varying size. Again in equating the Padinenbhumi Visayattar with the Periya nattar i.e. a supra-local assembly—from a reference ina Mannargudi inscription (pp. 218-19), Stein exhibits a lack of familiarity with other inscriptions referring to them in different contexts and different periods." More likely the Padinen-Visayattar was an organisation similar to merchant organisa tions, using a numerical designation. In this connection, Stein obviously misreads the Piranmalai inscription, which in fact records a joint donation by various merchant organisations headed by the Tisai Ayirattu Ainnur- ruvar (the Ayyarole)29 Unless periya nadu assemblies are located in terms of a clearcut grouping of nadus, it would be incorrect to treat them as supra-local assemblies. On the other hand, their functions, their constant association with Vaisnava centres and a few Jain centres, and their colla- boration with itinerant merchant guilds, the latter in a subordinate context in most places, would point to the need for a more careful examination of their politico-economic status and their integrative role. Meli, in Tamil, means a plough and one of the Tamil inscriptions of the periya nadu is engraved on a bronze plough.*" In the Tamil areas, it is likely that the Citrameli periya nadu was an organisation of Velala farmers like the Okkalu of Karnataka. It is also found in the Andhra region. It was composed of members of all the four castes. Like the Okkalu, the Citrameli probably controlled the production of food crops. The link between the Citrameli and ainnurruvar (the merchant guild of the Five Hundred) would represent a tie-up between agricultural and commercial interests. The increasing mention of agricultural commodities in the records of cess levied by the ainnurruvar, perhaps meant that the merchant guild provided the mechanism for the sale and distribution of these 19§.1.1., Vol. VI, 40; Vol. VIT, 129. 205.1.1, Vol. VIM, 442. This is now in the private collection of Sti S. Rajam, Madra:420 R. CHAMPAKALAKSHML products, ‘There scems to be very little substance nadu assemblies” developed at the cost of ween the peasantry and the Brahmin Sabha in the vicinity The nadu scems to have lost its character and position as a micro” egional assembly only with the coming of alien Telugu warrior c iefs in the revenue units like the parru and new politi- 28 For, as Stein himself in the statement that the “periya f older local assemblies and acted as mediators be' Vijayanagar period, when new cal boundaries like the Sirmai came into existence. cdmits, no revenue details are given in the periya nadu records and no ments can be seen from previous locality leaders to shift in the level of of evidence of the increasing pressure a new class of leaders, in spite through temples by the periya nadu chiefs to take a substantial portion of peasant output during the 12th century and Tater (p. 226) The answer to the question why and when the nadu declined seems to lie in the increse ‘as an integrative force and the changes in the sing role of the temple agrarian structure during the Vijayanagar period non-Brahmin participation in temple worship as another the 12th-13th centuries, Stein draws a contrast mples and the as. indicative va-Brahmins, Discussi' distinguishing feature of between the pre-9th century iconic representation in te aniconic simplicity and austerity of the early Chola temples of a deliberate effort to exclude all but Sastric oriented S © Smarta traditions. While it is true that greater non-Brahmin ritual worship is datable from the 12th century, Siva temples accordin participation in temple Stein’s observations on the iconographic development, in the contrary to the actual processes. One would expect the in particular, are pre-9th century temples to be more austere, if taken as a period of least non-Brahm co. The Pallava temples, in particular, are rich in iconographic forms, both 2 ‘The early Chola temples, on the other hand, systemati- aracter as the only in involvement and dominance of Brahmins. However, it is not of Visnu and Siv cally used the linga mainly due to its assimilative cl convenient aniconic form which could incorporate in canonical temples, actices centering round the Kandu or pillar and local and popular cult F tree, thus providing a constantly widening orbit for bringing in divergent socio-economic and ethnic groups into Saiva worship. Linga, as the cult 1 am indebted to Mrs M. Abraham, a Ph.D. scholar in the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, for the above views on the Citramell See M. Abraham, The Ayyavole Guild of Early Medieval South a, unpublished M. Phil. Dissertation, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 1976 DRavi A. Palat, ‘The Agrarian System of Jayankonda Cola Mandalam Under Ie (c. cb. 1350-1565), unpublished M. Phil. Dissertation, Jawaharlal ter V. Stein makes no reference to this in Vijayanagar Nehru University, New Delhi, 1981, Cha his chapter on the Vijayanagar State. 24See R. Champakalakshmi, Vaisnava Iconography in the Tamil Delhi, 1981 Country, NewPeasant State and Society in Medieval South India 421 way preclude the introduction of several iconic in fact, there is a tendency object, did not in an forms of Siva in the niches of the temple walls. to introduce new forms, stabilise old ones and give them special niches in temples. Puranic and epic stories also form a regular feature in temple sculptures from the 9th to the 12th centuries. Of the many misconceptions that Stein suffers from, the most obvious are his repeated characterisation of the temple as Vedic and the linga as non-Puranic, To treat the Siva-Brahmins as Sastric oriented according to Smarta traditions (in this he follows Nilakanta Sastri and K.R. Srinivasan) is equally misconceived for Siva-Brahmins would be those temple priests who were in most cases assimilated from earlier local cult priesthood. They are not heard of in pre-Chola times. One may also add the evidence of the carly Chola inscriptions recording grants made to Tiruppadiyam (bhakti hymns) singers,2* who were undoubtedly non-Brahmins It is, however, true of Vaisnavism that non-Brahmin participation became significant only after Ramanuja. In the case of Saivism, more than ritual participation, the actual control by non-Brahmins of temple adminis- tration and its resources increased through the establishment of mathas headed by non-Brahmin teachers called mudaliyars and their lineages or santanas from the 12th-13th century,?” representing another insti- tutional aspect of the major role taken by the sect’s Velala progenitors The Saiva siddhanta movement not only marks this important cultural variant, but also the culmination of the process of integration through bhakti traditions, on which there is a very special emphasis in the 12th- 13th centuries, Stein sees South Indian society asa tripartite division into (1) Brahmins (2) sat-Sudras and (3) lower castes. The term sat-Sudra is hardly applicable in the Chola context. It was used in the Tamil country perhaps for the first time in the Satakam works and later in the 18th-19th centuries when the Velalas were averse to their being categorised as Sudras in the British records, for the term sat-Sudras gave them a superior rank among non-Brahmin castes. The absence of the Kshatriyas, a peculiar feature of South India, is explained as due to the absence of a conquering elite, the peasant origins of locality warriors and the entrenched secular power of the Brahmins. ‘The non-Brahmins of the third category were further divided into right and left hand castes, a division which has hitherto baffled all 25See §.R. Balasubrahmanyam, Early Cola Art, Part 1, Bombay, 196. 266..1., II, 139; 373 of 1903; 129 of 1914; 349 of 1918; 139 of 1925; 99 of 1927; 149 of 1937. See also M. Rajamanikkanar, Saiva Samaya Valarice, second edition, Madras, 1972, pp- 198 ff. 18, 392 and 586 of ARE 1908; 1908, Pt. II, pp. 104-105; 108 and 109 of 1911; 1911, pt. HI, p. 75; 1915, pt- I, p- 113.422 R. CHAMPAKALAKSHMI attempts at a correct understanding of the nature of caste groupings Stein is quite clear how not to look at this division in terms of caste, sect ories helping in an understanding of this dual division or territory as cate With commendable perception he observes that they are neither corporate groups like guilds, nor primarily factional or conflict groups. To him, they ative’ or potential groupings, essentially are not absolute entities but ‘re supralocal in character forging significant links among a variety of j dependent peoples of diverse localities. While Stein tries to steer clear of the pitfalls in ascertaining the criteria of his division, he is not entirely free of this danger when he offers an ion by positively treating the division as one of groups engaged ged in mercantile activities (Valangai) and of those eng and craft occupation (/dangai). Temple urbanisation of the 12th-13th centuries is believed to have provided a reliable supra-local focus for rarian groups is Jeading artisan groups and a corresponding focus for the In fact, there is no consistency in the seen in the supra-local Periyanadi right and left hand groupings, for some agricultural castes like the Pallis are categorised as left hand and some weaver castes like Padmasale and ver caste, figures others fig ht hand, while the Kaikkola, also a wee as left hand. Stein is himself aware of the confusing nature of the 19th are as Ti century lists of this divisior The dual division appears right from the latter half of the 11th century A.D. and is possibly older, as Stein himself admits. To some extent the division was military in character in the Chola period with Valangai and Idangai armies figuring lar; justified in making a far-fetched connection between the Valangai forces With Velalas when he identifies Valangai forces with a conquering Chola nt units of Tondaimandalam on the basis of @ ely in inscriptions. But Stein is hardly army made up of peas: reference in a Kolar inscription (pp. 191-93). There is considerable evidence of social conflict and rivalry for upward mobility among the left hand groups from the 12th-13th centuries due to increasing urbanisation and greater non-Brahmin participation in temple building gement as seen in the reform movement of Ramanuja and the emergence of Tengalai Vaisnavism favour- ing .non-Brahmin elements. Conflict among the right and loft hand castes is, therefore, a feature of the later period and is expressed through rivalry among the lower castes for higher status by obtaining status symbols Surprisi the chapter on the Chola state and the agrarian order, which sets forth his main arguments for a segmentary state, is the weakest link in his whole thesis. Lengthy, repetitive, and at times ambiguous uch to be desired. Throughout one is endowments and m: presentation in this section leaves able to detect a certain anxiety on Stein's part to defend the segmentary state theory by dwelling on it at length. One looks in vain for the Chola agrarian order in this chapter,Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India 423 Pointing out the obvious contradiction in the conventional descriptions of the Chola state as a great unitary state with a central ised bureaucracy and Byzantine royalty and a simultaneous admiration for “local self- government” by village assemblies, Stein builds up the segmentary state thesis on the following arguments. 1. The existence of segments of power, i.e. nadu localities, each of which was a socio-economic and political unit, predating the Cholas. 2. Integration of such segments through creation of brahmadeyas and royal patronage to temples and the acknowledgment of Chola over- lordship by the segments as a symbolic, ritual sovereignty. 3, The absence of a centralised system of taxation, the king depending mainly on booty from war. 4, The absence of a strong centralised army and the existence of caste and guild armies 5. The presence of administrative personnel (specialised administra- tive staff) both at the centre and within the segment. 6. Different zones or levels of structure in the Chola segmentary state —Cholamandalam under more direct political control, the effectiveness of this control decreasing progressively in the intermediate and peripheral zones. 7, Pyramidal segmentation—the principle of complementary opposition among segments within an expanding framework of vertical integration —which is as salient in the concept of segmentary state as the con- ceptual bifurcation of the ritual and political aspects of rule, Despite profound differences between African societies and those of India, Stein justifies the applicability of this theory to the Chola state mainly on the basis of what he sees as the distribution of actual political control among many throughout the system, while ritual supremacy is legitimately conceded to a single centre- Two of Stein’s statements seem to betray a degree of uncertainty on his part with regard to the segmentary model, (1) that a unitary order in the process of formation or decay exhibit these characteristics; (2) that a nadu is a segmental part of a single, unified conception of Hindu kingship, each constituting a basic bl8c of which the edifice of the realm was com- posed. In both, one detects a close approximation toa unitary or centralised state. The feeling is inescapable that Stein is constrained by the extreme view he takes of a centralised system to seek an alternate model. In this chapter Stein fails to come to grips with basic questions. There is hardly any attempt to discuss the nature of agrarian relations, revenue organisation, agencies of collection, methods of surplus extraction and redistribution, land tenure, etc.—in short any aspect of agrarian. structure and its impact on peasant life.424 R. CHAMPAKALAKSEML There is an over-emphasis on the role of the nadu, which is the main concern of the author. As a result, he completely ignores the nagaram or the merchant assembly, which forms the subject of a recent study by Kenneth R. Hall, who has attempted to show that cach nadu hada nagaram, and that the latter interacted with all s local institutions as brahmadeya, ur and nadu assemblies and the “supra-local” periya nacht, as also with the ‘Central authority’, i.e. the King.*® The nagaram is referred to by Stein only as a merchant organisation interacting with other nagarams and with the itinerant merchant guilds, in order to show that such inter- action prevented the nadu from becoming “a sealed world or a seamless Stein also virtually counts the role of the “feudatories” such as Paluvettariyar, Irukkuvel, Sambhuvaraya, Kadavaraya and others, when he dismisses them in a paragraph or two as fully independent local rulers exercising kastra or a claim on local resources based upon force. In the sub-section on the political culture of the Chola segmentary state Stein tries to correlate the processes of religious transformation with the formation of the segmentary state. Much of Stein’s discussion on the Kaveri region is based on B. Suresh’s findings*® regarding the assimilation of all non-canonical deities (mostly female) by the canonical (bhakti) religion dominated by male deities. The merging of non-Vedic with ‘Vedic’ deities is a process which began long before the bhakti movement and the bhakti religion did not have to contend against the vigour of devotion to and widespread vitality of female deities as Stein believes. Evidence to the contrary, i.e. imposition of local cults over Brahminism, as in the case of Muruga (Subrahmanya) worship, would show a two-way process, and the assimilation of local female cult deities was only a part of it Chola religious policies, the adoption of the ‘royal Siva cult’ in parti- cular, to which temples of such magnitude as Rajarajesvaram and Gangai- konda Cholesvaram were dedicated, were, according to Stein, motivated by political designs. A parallel may be cited. In his study of the state in medieval Orissa," Hermann Kulke of speaks integration as against segmentation, emphasising that one of the chief factors of such political integration was the construction of imperial temples by the king, who selected an auto- chthonous cult, according to the dictates of his political needs as also from his dynastic and personal religious preferences. The Cholas chose the ‘royal Siva cult’, enlarged it, influenced and guided it through the *8Kenneth R. Hall, Trade and Statecraft in the Age of the Colas, New Delhi, 1980. **Historical and Cultural Geography and Ethnology of South India (with special reference to the Cola (Chola) inscriptions). Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis, Deccan College, Poona, 1969. %H. Kulke, “Royal Temple Policy and Structure of Medieval Hindu Kingdoms, in A. Eschmann, H. Kulke and G.C. Tripathi (eds.), The Cult of Jagannath and the Regional Tradition of Orissa, New Delhi, 1978.Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India 425 bhakti ideology in furthering their own territorial sovereignty The Vijayanagar state is discussed as a sequel to the main work on the Chola state. It is described as a pyramidal segmentary political system, essentially a continuation of the segmentary state of the Cholas, in terms ofits basic political character. Yet, the discussion in the chapter on the Vijayanagar state and society revolves around significant changes in the agrarian organisation and the fabric of society, both of which became far more complex than in the Chola period. Stein recognises elements of discontinuity, the most important of which was the change in the conception, size and complexity of the ‘locality’, yiz., the decline of the nadu segment and the village becoming the basic unit. The decline of the madu was generated from forces within and hastened by the assumption of segmentary leadership by the nayakas. In the place of the anonymous natfar, individual big men became rural entrepreneurs. Stein would even trace the Jaghir and Mirasi systems of land management of the British records to the powerful village leadership of the late 18th century, itself a vestige of the amaranayaka system. Emphasising the martial character of the Vijayanagar state, another important difference, Stein goes a long way with traditional Vijayanagar historiography in maintaining that the aim of the Vijayanagar state was to limit expansion of Deccan Muslim power in defence of Hindu culture and institutions. ‘The nayankara system was another major element of discontinuity, for the nayakas are described as warrior chiefs who assumed supra-local chieftainship, “exhibiting a persistent independence and occasional opposi- tion to superiordinate authority”. This new system is explained by yet another change viz., technological factors like new means of warfare—fire arms, fortifications and cavalry mounts. Mjgration and conquest played a prominent role in the development of the Vijayanagar state system. It is, however, hard to see how the nayaka system was oriented Janus- like both upward to the Rayas and downward to the thousands of peasant localities, a description more applicable to the position of the mu venda velar of the Chola period. The difficulties of Stein’s position mainly arise out of his extreme reluctance to see anything feudal in the relationship between the rulers and the nayakas.* This is further confirmed by the way he contradicts himself when he calls the nayakas “creatures of the state”, at the same time maintaining that amarams were not conferred on them but had to be given (conceded) to them as the Telugu Warrior elite by the Vijayanagar state. Similarly, the contradiction is all too clear when he says that as creatures of the statethey were vulnerable to the hazardous sistein prefers D.C. Sircar’s interpretation of the term amaram tenure (fief of the nayakas) as feudal, although he does not see a feudal system as A. Krishna- swami Pillai does in his The Tamil Country Under Vijayanagar, Annamalai Uni- yersity, 1964.426 R. CHAMPAKALAKSHMI imperial polities of this militaristic state and also that as warior chiefs, the nayakas showed a persistent independence w ith their armed followings and established different centres of power, to counteract which the Vij nagar king had to use the services of Brahmins in major political roles— ae commandants of major fortresses and territorial governors fo check their fissiparous designs. As fundamental differen: Stein points out the amaram and ayagar systems indi wards more stratified and complex relationships ategories are seen in the bhandaravada and manya. But Stein offers no ne try to show how bhandara- ces in land tenure and formal mode of payment, ating a change to- Two other tenurial clear explanation of their nature, nor does vadas, as crown villages, replaced brahmadeyas. The Mahanavami festival forms the subject of a lengthy discussion & the ritual focus of Vijayanagar kingship and its personal character, Stein attaches special significance to this festival as of royal and incorporative character on the basis of the descriptions of foreign travellers He would even seem to equate it with the archaic horse sacrifice (asvamedha). ‘As the major element of continuity Stein cites “central place” religious jnstitutions like the temple. Temple (Koyil) and religious sectarian oxB8nt tion (Sampradaya) are held to be the two main inte rative forces in the Vijayanagar period. One cannot disagree with Stein's 2 essment of the role of both these institutions, But what needs more careful examination ic his attribution of the maintenance of irrigation works to large temples, Tn his analysis of the relative importance of temples of different deities, particularly the Amman (Goddess) shrines and the vertical links among different shrines, Stein use the findings of Brenda F. Beck. He also acknowledges his debt to the Appadorais for his views on the sectarian the legitimation processes showing organisation and temples’ role in different levels of political authority shared by these institutions. a Stein’s work, which is of a high theoretical order, amply demonstrates the need for micro-level studies, due to its heavy reliance on si ;condary rom the point of view of the sheer range of subjects that he : makes, his range of helter in certain well sources. F covers and the sweeping generalisations that h epigraphic evidence is very limited. Often, he takes s] trown and oft quoted records like the Larger Leiden Grant and the Tiru- valangadu grant to make his point about the nattar, madhyastas ¢ Further, theres a tendency to evade issues, which would provide bases for argumenis against his hypothesis. Stein seems to arrive at many of his conclusions, ore by his unassailable logic, than by incontrovertible evidence. There is, however, no {denying the historiographical importance of Stein’s work, which stands as a monumental effort, highly stimulating in its analysis. The work, no doubt, succeeds in proposing new and different jons of the South Indian past and would hence remain one of the concept most quoted books on South India