Published Paper Details:

During the early mediaeval period of Daks?in?a Kos?ala, two types of religious village donations were observed: the first was given to the Bra?hmanas (individuals or groups), while the second was given to their temple institutions. These religious endowments were largely issued by the newly emerging ruling dynasty to legitimize their political authority. The charters issued to register village grants were meant to bring religious/spiritual merits to the donors, but they also consolidated the political range of various dynasties trying to penetrate into their peripheries or the interiors of the forest territories. With each new royal dynasty, the practice of giving village grants to these Bra?hmana donees became more common, resulting in the emergence of landed intermediaries who served as a link between the state and the peasantry. The instances and the provisions of the charters which we have outlined above, point to a process in which village grants were intensified, attached with a growing number of privileges bestowed upon the donees, effectively turned these Brahmana beneficiaries and their temple institutions into landed magnates.