Agrarian Society in Early Medieval Bengal

Early Medieval Society

Society during the early medieval period has largely been perceived within the feudal framework. R.S. Sharma sees society in terms of the proliferation of castes, the emergence of certain new groups, and incorporation of the tribes into the Brahmanical fold, especially at the level of the lowest order, i.e. the Sudra varna. Suvira Jaiswal essentially proceeds on Sharma’s framework, and argues for the absence of the two middle orders in the varna scheme
in eastern and southern India. However, as would be obvious, her analysis is within the feudal framework. B.N.S. Yadava, in his later writing’s has focussed on the emergence of several peasant groups, characterized by differential economic competence across regions in northern India.