Present a comparative study
of the administration of the Gonds
and Ahoms in the medival
period in India.
Answers
Due to the social changes that occurred in the different tribes, new states developed.
The Gonds
The Gonds lived in the forested areas of Gondvana (region in present-day Odisha, India). they practised 'shifting cultivation' (is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned and allowed to grow naturally while the cultivator moves on to another plot).
The large Gond tribe was divided into smaller clans which had their own 'rajas' or 'rais'.
Large Gond kingdoms began to dominate the smaller Gond chiefs.
The administrative system then became centralised as the kingdom was divided into 'grahs' which were ruled by the different Gond tribes. The garhs were further divided into 'chaurasis' (units of 84 villages) which were further divided into 'barhots' (units of 12 villages).
Due to the emergence of these new states, the Gond society began to be divided into unequal social classes.
Garha Katanga was a rich state and it was large as it had 70,000 villages. Thus it faced many invasions, and was finally defeated by the Mughals. Still some of the Gond kingdoms survived for some time but later became weaker and stuggled unsuccessfully against the stronger Bundelas and Marathas.
The Ahoms
In the 13th century, the Ahoms migrated from regions of present day Myanmar to the Brahmaputra valley.
They established new states by suppressing the older political system of the bhuiyans (landlords), by conquering powerful kingdoms of the Chhutiyas (1523) and of Koch-Hajo (1581) in the 16th century and by subjugating many tribes.
They used new and advanced ammunitions like the firarms even in the 1530s and began to make gunpowder and cannons by 1660s.
The Ahom kingdoms faced many invasions from the south-western areas of the Indian subcontinent and were finally defeated by the Mughals in 1662 but could not be controlled for a long time.
The system of forced labour was prevalent in the Ahom kingdoms and these labourers were called the 'paiks'.
A census was taken and the people from the more populated areas were transferred to the less populated areas. Thus the Ahom clans or 'khels', that controlled many villages, were broken up and by the beginning of the 17th century, the administration became almost centralised.
The major occupations of the males of the kingdom was agriculture, construction of dams and other public works. Many new methods of rice cultivation were developed by the Ahoms.
During the times of wars the males served in the armies.
The Ahoms worshipped their tribal gods originally, but during the mid-eighteenth century, Hinduism became a predominant religion due to the rule of hindu kings. Yet the Ahoms did not adopt Hinduism completely.
In the Ahom kingdoms, various arts and literature flourished. Various translation works were carried out from Sanskrit into the local languages.