The most important of them is the state of
the Matharas, who are also called Pitribhaktas. At the peak of their power they
dominated the area between the Mahanadi and the Krishna. Their contemporaries
and neighbors were the Vasisthas, the Nalas and the Manas.
The Vasisthas ruled on the borders of
Andhra m south Kalmga, the Nalas in the forest area of Mahakantara, and the
Manas in the coastal area m the north beyond the Mahanadi. Each state developed
its system of taxation, administration and military organization.
The
Nalas, and probably the Manas, also evolved their system of coinage. Each
kingdom favored the brahmanas with land grants and even invited them from
outside, and most kings performed Vedic sacrifices not only for spiritual merit
but also for power, prestige and legitimacy.
Elements of advanced culture
In this period elements of advanced culture
were not confined to the coastal belt known as Kalmga, but appeared in the
other parts of Orissa. The find of the Nala gold coins in the tribal Bastar
area in Madhya Pradesh is significant. It presupposes an economic system in
which gold money was used in large transactions and served as medium of payment
to high functionaries. Similarly the Manas seemed to have issued copper coins,
which implies the use of metallic money even by artisans and peasants.
The various states added to their income by
forming new fiscal units in rural areas. The Matharas created a district called
Mahendrabhoga in the area of the Mahendra Mountains. They also ruled over a
district called Dantayavagubhoga, which apparently supplied ivory and no gruel
to its administrators and had thus been created in a backward area.
The Matharas made endowments called
agroharas, which consisted of land and income from villages and were meant for
supporting religious and educational activities of the brahmanas. Some
agraharas had to pay taxes although elsewhere in the, country they were tax-free.
The induction of the brahmanas through land grants in tribal, forest and red
soil areas brought new lands under cultivation and introduced better methods of
agriculture, based on improved knowledge of weather conditions.
Formerly the year was divided into three
units, each consisting of four months, and time was reckoned on the basis of
three seasons. Under the Matharas, in the middle of the fifth century began the
practice of dividing the year into twelve lunar months. This implied a detailed
idea of weather conditions, which was useful for agricultural operations.
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