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actually given the land as well as the right to build a large strong army, he could spend an
collect the revenue from the land. Such grants extra amount from the revenue on the army. This
called agrahara or Brahmadeya grants had no was one reason why the kingdoms of the north
further obligations to the king. They and their could not defend themselves properly against the
families could live comfortably off the revenue of Turkish attacks.
the land. This was much the same situation as The relationship between the king and the
that of the Brahmadeya grants in south India. feudatories became a difficult one. The king was
But the other grantees did have further obliga- supposed to have control over the feudatories,
tions to the king. The grantee collected the but they could be troublesome if they wished. A
revenue from the peasants. He kept the major feudatory could weaken the position of the king
part of it for himself, but a small part of it he had if he was slow in sending the king’s share of the
to send to the king. He was also ordered to revenue or if he cheated in supplying troops to
maintain troops for the king, which the king the king when they were needed. The more the
could demand whenever he wanted. king depended on the feudatory, the weaker he

As the number of grantees increased, more and became. Sometimes, the king could take away
more land went into the hands of the grantees. the grant made to the feudatory. But, this rarely
Therefore, the total amount of revenue which happened, because the feudatory was usually
came to the king decreased. Sometimes, a district powerful. Thus, the king had to be very careful in
containing a large number of villages would be dealing with him.
granted to a high official, for example, a minister. The feudatories were very jealous of each other.
Since, it was not possible for him to collect the Although, they were all working for the same
revenue himself from all the villages, he would in king, they were often rivaling. This rivalry led to
turn grant the villages to persons subordinate to many wars. They were quick to take offence if
him who would collect the revenue from the anything unpleasant was said or done. Every
peasants. Thus, a number of intermediaries (or dispute was settled through a fight, either a
persons coming in between) came into existence challenge from on feudatory to another or else a
between the king and the peasants. battel. Fighting was also a means of showing off.

This change in the system of revenue collection Therefore, it often became a useless way of
resulted in many other changes. The officers spending revenue.
were now less dependent on the king. Those When a feudatory felt that he had become
who had large grants of land often behaved like powerful enough, he would declare his inde-
independent rulers. The peasants who cultivated pendence from the reigning king and set up his
the land began to pay more attention to feudato- own kingdom. Often the king was too weak and
ries since they were the ones who had direct could do little to stop the feudatory. Thus, the
control over the peasants. In the earlier period, Rashtrakutas who began as feudatories of the
the officers had collected the revenue in the Chalukyas, declared their independence and
name of the king. Now, the revenue was being finally overthrew the Chalukyas. They were, in
collected in the name of the officers. So, the king turn, overthrown by their feudatories, the Later
became someone who lived away and had little Chalukyas. Similarly, the Chandellas declared
to do with the peasants. Previously, all the their independence from the Pratiharas. In the
revenue had gone to king, so if he wanted to same way, the Cholas in south had begun as

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