Dynamics of Economic Changes in the Agrarian System of South India between 8th to 13 Centuries CE

Abstract

Pre colonial agrarian dynamics of southern India between 8^th to 13^th centuries is a rich ground historical enquiry which has generated many models in Indian history. This paper attempts at presenting an outline of the different viewpoints that dominated the study of the economic history of early medieval South India. The scope and methodology of this paper therefore essentially concentrates on historiography focusing on patterns of land tenures, taxation, social hierarchy, differential access to resources, resource mobilizations and hydraulic implements with a focus on continuity and change in the economic processes and their larger ramifications. Issues like emergence of temple economy and consequent urban development, strategies of legitimization, debate on the bureaucratic control of the Chola state etc are tried to be addressed adequately.