Precolonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra

328 Pages·2001·3.05 MB·English

by  Cynthia Talbot

Precolonial India in Practice
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Precolonial India in Practice
Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra
CYNTHIA TALBOT
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
2001
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Oxford New York
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Copyright © 2001 by Cynthia Talbot
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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All rights reserved. No parr of this publication may be reproduced,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Talbot, Cynthia
Precolonial India in practice: society, region, and identity in medieval Andhra /
Cynthia Talbot.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-513661-6
1. Andhra Pradesh (India)-History. 2. Social Change-India-Andhra Pradesh-
History—to 16th century- 1 Regionalism—India—Andhra Pradesh—History—
to 16tli century. 1. Title.
DS485.A55 T35 2000
954'.84-dc21 99-049890
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 42
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Acknowledgments
This book is the culmination of many years of study and I have incurred numerous
debts of gratitude in the process. My interest in medieval Andhra was first stimulated
by V. Narayana Rao, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and led to a doctoral
dissertation on the topic of religious gifts in Kakatiya Andhra, much of which is
incorporated in chapter 3 of this work. A Fulbright-Hays doctoral dissertation grant
funded the initial period of research in India. I am grateful to Sri Venkateswara
University in Tirupati for providing an institutional affiliation, and to the directors
and staff of the Chief Epigraphist's Office at Mysore and the Andhra Pradesh
Department of Archaeology and Museums in Hyderabad for allowing access to
many unpublished inscriptions. I especially wish to thank Prof. S. S. Ramachandra
Murthy of Sri Venkateswara University for the many painstaking hours he spent
reading through Telugu inscriptions with me.
My doctoral research was summarized in the article "Temples, Donors, and Gifts:
Patterns of Patronage in Thirteenth Century South India," published in the Journal
of Asian Studies (vol. 50, no. 2 [1991], pp. 308—40). Portions of it are reprinted
here with permission of the Association for Asian Studies. I subsequently began to
examine aspects of Kakatiya Andhra beyond religious patronage, resulting in
chapters 2 and 4 of this work. Two interim analyses of Kakatiya society and polity
appeared in the articles "Political Intermediaries in Kakatiya Andhra, 1175-1325"
and "A Revised View of Traditional' India: Caste, Status, and Social Mobility in
Medieval Andhra," in Indian Economic and Social History Review (vol. 31, no. 3
[1994]: 261-89) and South Asia (vol. 15, no. 1 [1992]: 17-52), respectively. I thank
Sage Publication India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India and the editor of South Asia for
permission to publish revised versions of these articles here.
I am also indebted to Prof. Noboru Karashima, formerly of the University of
Tokyo, for including me in a team project on Vijayanagara inscriptions that was
funded by the Mitsubishi Foundation. While working on his project, I was able to
return to India in 1991 and examine many of the inscriptions utilized in chapters
1 and 5. Additional materials analyzed in chapter 5 were collected in 1992 at the
India Office Library with the partial assistance of a Bernadette E. Schmitt Grant
vi Acknowledgements
for Research in European, African, or Asian History from the American Historical
Association. I am especially grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities
for awarding me a fellowship in 1992-93, which led to the inception of this work
in its present form.
Many other colleagues have assisted me over the years and it gives me great pleasure
to thank some of them individually. For their comments on earlier drafts of the book,
in whole or in part, I am very grateful to Peter Glaus, Richard Eaton, Anne Feldhaus,
Patrick Olivelle and his graduate seminar on classical Indian culture and society,
Leslie Orr, John F. Richards, George Spencer, and Phillip Wagoner. I have also much
appreciated the support extended by Susan M. Deeds, James Heitzman, Eugene
Irschick, David Shulman, and Thomas R. Trautmann. I am also obliged to Phillip
Wagoner and John Henry Rice for providing the photograph on the cover.
My greatest thanks go to my husband, Eric Schenk, whose love and encouragement
helped sustain me during the seemingly interminable gestation of this book. Without
Eric's nurturing, in addition to my labor, it might never have seen the light of day.
Contents
List of Maps and Tables ix
Note on Transliteration and Translation xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction: Medieval India, A History in Transition 1
Regions and Regionalism in Medieval India 4
Inscriptions as Historical Sources 11
Plan of the Book 16
1. Andhra's Age of Inscriptions, 1000-1650 18
Physical Environment and Early History 19
Distribution of Andhra Inscriptions 25
The Telugu Linguistic Region 34
Settlement of Interior Andhra 38
The Frontier in Andhra History 43
2. The Society of Kakatiya Andhra 48
Varna, Jati, and Clan in Andhra Inscriptions 50
A Typology of Statuses 55
Social Mobility and Individual Achievement 61
The Militarism of Kakatiya Society 67
Physical Movement in a Changing Landscape 72
viii Contents
Fresh Perspectives: Collectives and Women 79
Summary: The Fluidity of Social Identities 84
3. Temples and Temple Patronage in Kakatiya Andhra 87
The Religious Gift in Theory and in Action 88
Agrarian Expansion through Temple and Tank Construction 93
The Temple as a Redistributive Center 99
Diversity of Temple Types 106
Motives for Temple Patronage 114
Summary: Subregional Patterns of Endowment 124
4. The Kakatiya Political Network 126
Expansion of Kakatiya Power 128
Royal Religious Patronage and Dharmic Kingship 139
Warrior Prowess and Military Service 144
Classifying Kakatiya Subordinates 154
Political Economy of the Kakatiya Era 161
Conceptualizing the Kakatiya State 167
5. The Kakatiyas in Telugu Historical Memory 174
Reviving Past Glory: Warrior Appropriations of the Kakatiyas 175
Prataparndra Carieramu, a Telangana Chronicle 183
The Vijayanagara Connection 194
Village Accounts and Popular Traditions 202
Conclusion: Toward a New Model of Medieval India 208
Appendix A: Andhra Inscriptions, 1000-1649 216
Appendix B: Kakatiya Andhra Inscriptions 226
Notes 259
References 285
Index 300
List of Maps and Tables
Map 1. Location of Andhra Pradesh 5
Map 2. Elevation and Major Rivers in Andhra 20
Map 3. Districts of Andhra Pradesh 21
Map 4- Andhra Subregions 24
Map 5. Geographic Distribution of Inscriptions, 1000-1174 30
Map 6. Geographic Distribution of Inscriptions, 1175-1324 31
Map 7. Geographic Distribution of Inscriptions, 1325-1499 32
Map 8. Geographic Distribution of Inscriptions, 1500-1649 33
Map 9. Location of Major Temples 108
Map 10. Kakatiya Records, 1175-1198 130
Map 11. Kakatiya Records from Ganapati's Reign, 1199-1262 132
Map 12. Kakatiya Records from Rudramadevi's Reign, 1263-1289 134
Map 13. Kakatiya Records from Prataparudra's Reign, 1290-1324 136
Table 1. Distribution of Andhra Inscriptions by Period 25
Table 2. Epigraphic Production by Subregion and Period 42
Table 3. Village Sites of Inscriptions by Subregion and Period 43
Table 4- Classification of Individual Donors 57
Table 5. Father-Son Status Titles 62
Table 6. Temple Founding by District 94
Table 7. Gift Items at Andhra Temples 101
Table 8. Major and Minor Temple Inscriptions by District 110
Table 9. Donor Types at Major and Minor Temples 112
Table 10. Gift Items by Individual Donor Type 113
Table 11. Allegiance to the Kakatiyas by Regnal Periods 137
Table 12. Allegiance to the Kakatiyas by District 138
Table 13. Individuals Acknowledging Kakatiya Overlordship 158
IX