Brahmadeya
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Brahmadeya (Sanskrit for "given to Brahmana"[1]) was tax free land gift, either in the form of single plot or whole villages, donated to Brahmanas in the early medieval India. It was initially practiced by the ruling dynasties and was soon followed up by the chiefs, merchants, feudatories, etc. Brahmadeya was devised as a means to develop the village and install culture.
Brahmadeya represented the grant of land either in a single plot or whole villages donated to Brahmanas by making them land-owners or land-controllers.[2][3][4][5] It was also given to more than one Brahmana (ekabhoga), to several Brahmana families (ganabhogam) which is estimated to be from few to several hundreds or even more than thousands, particularly in South India.[6][7] The gifts of land were mostly selected around the irrigation facilities such as tanks or lakes and were supposed to be operable to fulfill the needs of the donees. In the absence of facility, new means of irrigation systems were created near the brahmadeyas.[8][9] The kings and feudatories were to lose their right over donated lands and could not take it back even in the absence of heirs. In the absence of heir, brahamdeya was transferred to some other eligible person of the same caste.[10] Though mostly lands, other objects such as food, grains, paddy, gold, money, cow, oxen, ploughshare, etc. were also given away as a gift.
Brahmadeyas helped to bring virgin land under cultivation and to integrate the existing rural settlement into a new economic order, dominated by the Brahmana proprietors.[11][12][13] They were exempted from various land taxes and dues either entirely or partially such as in the initial states of settlement. The taxes from the donated villages were assigned to Brahmana donees.[10] Brahamdeyas also helped the ruling families as they did gain the ideological support for their political power.[12] It is said to be a chief characteristic of the Indian feudalism.[8]
The donation of land sometimes represented more than just the transfer of land rights. At many instances, human resources such as peasants, artisans and others along with revenues and economic resources were also transferred to the donees.[14][15] There are several inscriptional evidences of conflicts between peasants, Brahmanas, and donors arising out of alienation of rights. Among other conflicting issues, right over drawing water was the most sensitive issue. An inscription dated back to 1080 CE belonging to the Hasan Taluk mentions a water dispute between a Brahmana and a farmer's family. Another inscription from the same taluk of 1230 CE. evidences the death of two farmers over land rights issue.[16] Peasants were sometimes forced to agree to the conversion of their land into brahamdeya by denying water to them. In the brahmadeya villages, villagers were landless laborers who were paid a portion of the crop they helped to cultivate.[2]