Economic Privileges

The rate of payment and economic privileges

differed according to the Varna to which a person belonged. Thus a Brahmana was

required to pay two per cent interest on loans, a Kshatriya three per cent, a

visa four per cent, and a sutra five per cent. Sudra guests could be fed only’

if they had done some work at the house of the host These rules laid down in

the Dharma satraps or law books may not have been observed strictly, but they

indicate the norms which were set by society

Since both priests and warriors lived on

the taxes, tributes, tithes and labor supplied by peasants and artisans, their

relations were marked by occasional feuds for the sharing of social savings.

The Kshatriyas were also hurt by the vanity of the brahmaness, who claimed the

highest status m society. But both resolved their conflicts and differences m

face of the opposition of the visas and sutras, Ancient texts emphasize that

the Kshatriyas cannot prosper without the support of the brahmaness, and the

brahmaness cannot prosper without the support of the Kshatriyas, Both can

thrive and rule the world only if they cooperate with each other

Social Crisis and Rise of Landed Classes

For several centuries the system worked

well in the Gangetic basin, which saw a successive series of large states. In

the first and second centuries A.D. it was marked by bumping trade and urbanism.

In this phase art flourished as never before.

The climax of the old order was reached in

about the third century. Then its progressive role seems to have been

exhausted. Around the third century A.D. the old social formation was afflicted

with a deep crisis. The crisis is clearly reflected in the description of the

Kali age in those portions of the Puranas which belong to the third and fourth

centuries A.D.

The Kali age is characterized by varna

samara, i.e. intermixture of varnas or social orders, which implies that the

visas and sutras (peasants, artisans and labourers) either refused to , perform

producing functions assigned to them or else the visa peasants declined to pay

taxes and the sutras refused to make their labor available.

They did not observe the vamp boundaries

relating to marriage and other types of social intercourse. On account of this

situation the epics emphasize the importance’ of Dana or coercive measures, and

Manu lays down that the visas and sutras should not be allowed to deviate from

their duties. The kings appear as upholders and restorers of the vamp system.