The Emergence and Expansion of Religious and Exchange Centers as ‘Urban’ in Early Medieval Bihar

Abstract

The post-Gupta era witnessed the deterioration of the urban economy as a result of the marginalization of trade and currency network. The early medieval period marked the emergence of feudalism and land grants became one of the major features of this socio-economic system. The earlier urban centers of Bihar declined or disappeared by the beginning of the seventh century CE. The new towns that emerged had a distinctive nature and revolved around two functions, namely political and religio-educational. An attempt to identify such centers in different parts of Bihar underlines either their ecclesiastical or politico-administrative basis as they were either religion centers or fortified administrative nuclei. A large number of Brahmanical and Buddhist sites, excavated and studied in the recent times, indicate that they were located either on the ancient trade routes or in the alluvial plains, which connected the other contemporary religious centers of early medieval Bihar through rivers as well as land routes, providing access to pilgrims and merchants alike. Though there is a lack of direct evidence of any economic activity from these sites, however, the retrieved artifacts lying near these sites provide evidence on their material background.