Society, land and trade

After the big empires broke up, India had many smaller kingdoms. Kings like the Chālukyas and Rāṣhṭrakūṭas ruled their core lands directly, and other regions through subordinate rulers called sāmantas (like tributaries or vassals).

Sāmantas were essential: they led armies and ran local government. But their loyalty was fragile — when the centre looked weak, they could break away. The Rāṣhṭrakūṭas were once sāmantas of the Chālukyas, and ended up overthrowing them. The same system that held an empire together could pull it apart.

Lands ruled directly were divided into provinces (bhuktis or rāṣhṭras), districts (maṇḍalas) and villages, with officials at each level. Villages, the smallest unit, had headmen, accountants and local committees, and largely governed themselves.

By the 9th century, south India had assemblies at several levels. The 10th-century Chola inscriptions at Uttaramerur describe how members of the village sabhā were chosen — showing a long democratic tradition going back 1,500 years to the janapadas.

The land grant system that began under the Guptas grew a lot. Kings, chiefs, royal relatives and vassals gave land to people, communities and religious bodies, creating a new class of landholders. Many of them did not farm the land themselves, and texts and inscriptions suggest these powerful middlemen often exploited the peasants.

Many grants were meant to bring new land under the plough, growing more and different crops. Many irrigation works, small and large, were built. The Pallavas built numerous tanks in Tamil Nadu, many still in use today. Inscriptions often record someone paying for a well, pond or tank — which raised the donor's standing.

Trade flourished too. Small traders handled local trade; ship-owning merchants traded across the seas. From the 8th century, India's west coast traded with ports in today's Iran, Iraq and East Africa, and the east coast with Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and even China. Copper-plate inscriptions mention Christian, Muslim and Jewish traders from West Asia — India was a hub of world trade.

Some historians have said towns declined in this period, but the evidence is more mixed. In the north, most old cities stayed alive and new ones grew; Xuanzang saw Kauśhāmbī and Śhrāvastī declining but Sthāneśhvara, Kānyakubja and Kāśhī thriving. In the south, cities flourished, with temples as centres of trade and ports driving sea trade. Merchant guilds of traders, artisans and moneylenders continued, also funding religious and charitable work.