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A new kind of army, Assemblies and Ordinary people at the time of Harshvardhan

A new kind of army


Like earlier rulers, some of these kings maintained a well-organised army, with elephants, chariots, cavalry and foot soldiers. Besides, there were military leaders who provided the king with troops whenever he needed them. They were not paid regular salaries. Instead, some of them received grants of land. They collected revenue from the land and used this to maintain soldiers and horses, and provide equipment for warfare. These men were known as samantas.  Whenever the ruler was weak, samantas tried to become independent.

Assemblies in the southern kingdoms

The inscriptions of the Pallavas mention a number of local assemblies. These included the sabha, which was an assembly of brahmin land owners.This assembly functioned through subcommittees,which looked after irrigation,agricultural operations, making roads, local temples, etc.The ur was a village assembly found in areas where the land owners were not brahmins. And the nagaram was an organisation of merchants. It is likely that these assemblies were controlled by rich and powerful landowners and merchants.Many of these local assemblies continued to function for centuries.

Ordinary people in the kingdoms

We can catch an occasional glimpse of the lives of ordinary people from plays, and other accounts.Let us look at some of these.

Kalidasa is known for his plays depicting life in the king’s court. An interesting feature about these plays is that the king and most brahmins are shown as speaking Sanskrit, while women and men other than the king and brahmins use Prakrit. His most famous play, Abhijnana Shakuntalam, is the story of the love between a king named  Dushyanta and a young woman named Shakuntala. We find an interesting description of the plight of a poor fisherman in this play. The Chinese pilgrim Fa Xian noticed the plight of those who were treated as untouchables by the high and mighty. They were expected to live on the outskirts of the city. He writes: “If such a man enters a town or a market place, he strikes a piece of wood, in order to keep himself separate; people, hearing this sound, know what it means and avoid touching him or brushing against him.”And Banabhatta provides us with a vivid picture of the king’s army on the move:

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