Pranam AGRAHARAM
1 Agrahāra (अग्रहार) was a village, or consisted of fields which were given to Brāhmaṇas. The *agrahāras* enjoyed exemption from several taxes and had other administrative immunities. ( The Successors Of The Satavahanas In Lower Deccan: Chronology of the Viṣṇukuṇḍins) Agrahāra ( अग्रहार) refers to villages or parts of villages given to Brāhmaṇas for their maintenance.—Agrahāras were generally granted to Brāhmaṇas when they returned from the *gurukula* after finishing studies, in order to help them in settling themselves as *gṛhasthas*. Agrahara (अग्रहर*).**.** [agre hriyate dīyate'sau; hṛ-ac]*1) that which must be given first. 2) = अग्रहारिन् (*agrahārin*).Agrahara is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms *agra* <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/agra#sanskrit> and *hara* (हर).--- OR ---Agrahāra (अग्रहार).—1) a grant of land given by kings (to Brāhmaṇas) for sustenance (*agraṃ brāhmaṇabhojanaṃ, tadarthaṃ hriyante rājadhanāt pṛthak kriyante te kṣetrādayaḥ- nīlakaṇṭha*; *kṣetrotpannaśasyāduddhṛtya brāhmaṇoddeśena sthāpyaṃ dhānyādi, gurukulā- dāvṛttabrahmacāriṇe deyaṃ kṣetrādi, grāmabhedaśca* Tv.); अग्रहारांश्च दास्यामि ग्रामं नगरसंमितम् (*agrahārāṃśca dāsyāmi grāmaṃ nagarasaṃmitam*) Mahābhārata (Bombay) 3.64.4. कस्मिंश्चिदग्रहारे (*kasmiṃścidagrahāre*) Daśakumāracarita 8.9. 2 The inscription titled as “Navalākhī Plates of Śīlāditya <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/shiladitya#hinduism>” (USVAE, vol. IV, pp.159-166, 605 CE) issued by The king Śīlāditya of Maitrakas <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/maitraka#hinduism> of Valabhī <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/valabhi#hinduism> Dynasty records the village Bhōṇḍānaka included in Vaṭanagara <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vatanagara#history>-sthalī <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/sthali#hinduism>, to forty four *Brāhmaṇas* belonging to different gōtras <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/gotra#hinduism> and charaṇas <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/carana#hinduism>, engaged in austerities and studies. Whatever land in the village had been granted previously to gods (temples) and *Brāhmaṇas*, was exempted in this current grant. Kāvī <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kavi#hinduism> Plates issued by Gōvindarāja (c. 827 CE) (*ibid*., vol. VI, pp. 162-168) of the same dynasty records a grant of a village to a vedic *Brāhmaṇa* that carried with its usual privileges of udraṅga, uparikara, etc. The granted village was not to be entered by the *Chāṭas <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/chata#history>* and *Bhaṭas <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/bhata#hinduism>* and not to be meddled with by royal officers. It is interesting to note that the lands gifted previously to the gods and *brāhmaṇas* were excluded from the current grant. 3 The concept of *dāna <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/dana#hinduism>* was well demonstrated in the land grants. Besides containing genealogy of the donor, appraisal, and other incidental informationthey recordnecessary details directly connected with the act of donation. As seen from these epigraphical records, things that were usually given in the early medieval period, included mainly landed property though gift of other things like wells, gardens, temples and othersis also not rare. The most important item of gift, however, was land, which is evident from the numerous land grant charters in this period. And it certainly plays an important role in understanding the socio-economic history of the period. 4 Granting lands to an individual or institution seems to be highly commendable in early and early medieval periods in northern India <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/northern-india#history>. At that time, the receivers of land grants were mostly vedic *brāhmaṇas <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/brahmana#hinduism>*. As the spiritual authority, they were always patronized by the kings <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/king#history> and other members of the ruling family <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/family#hinduism>. 5 There are plenty of inscriptional evidences where the kings from Āryāvarta <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/aryavarta#hinduism> (Northern India <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/india#hinduism>) granted acres of landed properties to the *brāhmaṇas* of *yajurvedīya śākhās <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/shakha#hinduism>* viz. *Vājasaneyī <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vajasaneyi#hinduism> Mādhyandina <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/madhyandina#hinduism>, Vājasaneyī Kāṇva <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kanva#hinduism>, Maitrāyaṇī* and others to perform vedic sacrifices and to increase religious merit of their own or their parents. We may notice that the *yajurvedīya brāhmaṇas* were the most welcome in the society as they were the supreme priest for performing *yajña <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/yajna#hinduism>*. However, we are going to see some *ṛgvedīya* or *sāmavedīya brāhmaṇas* who were gifted lands to perform vedic sacrifices and to initiate vedic teachings as well. 6 As recorded in the Kailan copper plate of King Bhāvadeva <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/bhavadeva#hinduism> of Devaparvata <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/devaparvata#hinduism> (second half of the eighth century) Mahāsāmanta <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/mahasamanta#hinduism> Namadhāra himself requested the king to make an endowment of land free of taxes to a buddhist monastery at Vendāmati. D.C. Sircar thinks that some of these grants, though contain no reference to the making of payments, were based on transactions involving the sale of land. In support of this argument, he cites the Nālandā <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/nalanda#hinduism> Copperplate of Devapāla <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/devapala#hinduism>[8] <https://www.wisdomlib.org/history/essay/impact-of-vedic-culture-on-society/d/doc1121352.html#note-e-186839> according to which King Devapāla granted villages as a tax-free holding to a monastery at the request of Balaputradeva <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/balaputradeva#history> king of Suvarṇabhūmi <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/suvarnabhumi#hinduism>. Sircar argues that Balaputradeva purchased the five villages from Devapāla as otherwise the whole of the religious merit occurring from the donation would go only to Devapāla , not to Bālaputra. D.C. Sircar further points out that this was no doubt an unwanted position for the king of Suvarṇabhūmi, if he purchased the village, as he no doubt did, five-sixth of the merit would be his own and only one-sixth would go to Devapāla. However, this mere supposition from which he attempts to summarize the conclusion is in no way supported by the contents of the inscription.The said inscription does not mean that the donation was for the increase of religious merit of the king of Suvarṇabhūmi;instead, it states very clearly that the King Devapāla, donated the village in question for enhancement of the spiritual glory of his parents and himself. If Devapāla received any payment for making the tax-free holding theoretically, he would not be entitled to any merit accruing from the endowment. Thus, it is quite clear that it was not Balaputra’s intention to acquire merit by donating villages, but to ensure a permanent source of income for the maintenance of the building and provisions of the monastery he established. He had already attained religious merit by constructing a monastery. Therefore, there could be no question of a monetary transaction in the grant recorded in the Nālandā copper plates. 7 As the donation of villages together with relaxations and special privileges had been a well-established practice by the period under discussion, in most of the cases these privileges are explicitly mentioned, and some of the terms are repeated in an almost uniform manner in the inscriptions of all regions under consideration during early and early medieval period. In many cases, it is difficult to examine how far the land tenure and the rights of beneficiaries of different regions varied from each other and in different periods. Because in some cases, there are instances of change of ownership of land as a result of a change of dynasty or king. 8 Notably, not only the king but also the private individuals had the right to own the lands in well-developed places. These people were brought by the king himself but were not confiscated. From the above discussion, it is clear that the central themes in all land grants at the period under discussion are the specification of the gift of land, the name of the donor, the occasion and the purpose of the donation, and the boundaries of the donated land. The gift generally consists of a village in earlier times, and afterward plot of land or a step well with a small piece of land or agricultural fields gifted usually*. *The charters refer to the name and location of the granted land which is often indicated concerning the territorial divisions such as *grāma*, *viṣaya, bhukti*, and others. The varied characters of land are minutely mentioned in the epigraphic records. In the village landscape, two major types of land were *sthala <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/sthala#hinduism>-bhūmi <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/bhumi#hinduism>* (high or elevated land) and *nimna <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/nimna#hinduism>-bhūmi* (lowland). It means that *sthala-bhūmi* had exclusive use for habitation. *Nimna-bhūmi*, in the majority of cases, was used to mean wetland. In this sense low-land also comprised marshy land, however, low-land for the cultivation of crops was not rare. Other types of land were *ūṣara <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/ushara#hinduism>* (salty land, generally barren), *nimāna*- *bhūmi* (table land), *garta <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/garta#hinduism>* (either salt deposition spot after digging or depressed land) and *tala <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/tala#hinduism>* (flat land). Village land area had two separate zones, inside and outside land as evidenced from the boundary descriptions of the donated lands. The three major land divisions were *vāstu <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vastu#hinduism>* (for a living), *kṣetra <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kshetra#hinduism>* (cultivable), and *khila <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/khila#hinduism>* (fallow). *Vāstu-bhūmi <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vastu-bhumi#history>* is described as having fixed four boundaries 9 Hence the structure of vast agricultural lands with residences of the farmers as owners or laborers adjoining the lands, with an inner circle of vaishya and Kashatriya as arches and at the centre with a temple and rows of Brahmin homes with water running along with the fields as HARAM and Dollar -was an Agraharam. We can live even today where nature is blissful and harsh. Food and medicines were available in the vicinity. But today all Gadgets we use might remove nature from there. But for that we can live. The days during which we friends sat on the banks of the river Cauvery , splashing our legs in the water gave a glee in the heart even today, which we don’t get at present with all the facilities surrounding us. The West is clever; they manufactured everything sold to the east and they live in villages called counties, driving hefty miles with fine roads. We are annihilating our lives. KR IRS 23722 On Sat, 23 Jul 2022 at 08:55, Rangarajan T.N.C. <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.agraharamhomes.com/ > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoqWX-MbiPxFW5q9aK4JJFcYBM_dyR4EF3WmZ6d3sy2KAA%40mail.gmail.com.
