India

After the decline of the Kushan Empire, Chandragupta I (from 320) founded the Gupta dynasty in India, with its capital at Pataliputra. In the 4th–5th centuries the Gupta Empire flourished. Rulers granted land to officials and commanders, and so a class of large landowners formed; besides taxes they demanded labour duties from peasants. The population was divided into four varnas (social classes): Brahmans (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (farmers and merchants) and Shudras. Slavery survived in part, with slaves used mostly for household work. In the 6th century the empire broke up under the attacks of the Hephthalites, and in the 7th century the Chinese traveller Xuanzang wrote that the country contained many small principalities. Rajas granted land as “grass” (a conditional share for service) or “patta” (a charter for a set time), and in time such lands became hereditary property. In the early 11th century Mahmud of Ghazna led 17 raids into the north. Peasants dug canals and gathered two or three harvests a year; rice, cotton, sugar cane and spices were grown. Indian craftsmen were famous for jewellery, textiles and ivory goods, and through sea ports such as Calicut on the west coast trade was carried on with Chinese, Arab and African merchants.