Deccan: Society & Economy

by Malati Mahajan

The present project is based mainly on the inscriptions issued by the kings of Satavahana, Vakataka, Calukya of Badami, Rastrakuta, Calukya of Kalyani, Yadava and Silahara dynasties as well as of some other dynasties which had some sort of contacts with these royal families and the data obtained is supplemented and corroborated wherever possible and essential with the evidence available from other sources.

Taking into account the vast gamut of the territory and the period of the study is restricted to the region ruled by these dynasties and particularly to western and northern Deccan including Vidarbha.

The efforts are made to have clear idea about the position of different so called castes in the society by describing these classes in the context of their duties prescribed in Dharmasastras. Here an attempt is made to trace the beginning of different arts and professions based on each of the sources with the corroboration of the evidence from different sources.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• List of illustrations
• I. Introduction
  1. Geographical background
  2. Historical background
• II. Society
  1. Structure of the society
  2. Marriages, family life, position of women
  3. Food and drinks
  4. Dresses and ornaments
  5. Means of entertainment
•  III. Economy
  1. Agriculture, horticulture and professions
  2. Faunal wealth and professions
  3. Floral wealth and professions
  4. Water wealth and professions
  5. Stone, mineral and metal wealth and professions
  6. Sources of revenue
  7. Trade and commerce
• Bibliography
• Index.

About the Author:

Dr Malati Mahajan (1929-2008) was a retired lecturer from the Post-graduate Teaching Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology of Nagpur University, Nagpur. She was the recipient of Motilal Nehru centenary award for standing first in order of merit in first division in M.A. examination. She was elected as General President of the Thirteenth All India Annual Conference of Place Name Society held at Udupi (Karnataka) in April, 1992. She participated in all India conferences of Place Name Society of India and presented good number of research papers on different aspects of Cultural and Historical Geography of Ancient Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh which have been widely appreciated.