Thread by @historiakayasth

🧵 Kayasthas in the revenue department: An in depth survey of early mediaeval land grants

As a class of record-keepers, Kayasthas were primarily associated with revenue department of early-medieaval kingdoms in North-India. Both literary and epigraphical evidence, particularly copper plate grants, suggest that members of this group occupied all rungs of the revenue administration in those times and were also the benefactors thereof.

In this thread we will study, how not only Kayasthas shaped and managed the revenue administration, but also how their own social identity was shaped by the system.
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In early mediaeval records, an officer of the revenue department was generally known as the अक्षपटलिक (Akshapatalika). Copper plate land-grants suggest that there were different grades of this post. The highest being महा-अक्षपटलिक the general superintendent of revenue records of the state. In many medieval kingdoms, this post was monopolised by members of the Kayastha caste.

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This is best demonstrated best through the records of the Gahadavalas and their feudatories. Curiously enough, most Gahadavala records are land-grants to Brahmins and most of the seem to have been written by Kayasthas.
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Many of these writers who earlier were mentioned as belonging to the Kayastha or Karanika caste, were called Akshapatalikas in later records. For instance, several records of the Khayarvala dynasty of Bihar, who were the feudatories of Gahadavalas, were authored by "Akshapatalika-Thakur" Sujan of the Srivastava Kayastha lineage.

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The lowest rank of revenue officers was the ग्रामाक्षपटलिक (grama-akshapatalika) which is synonymous with the modern पट्टपाल or the पटवारी (Patavari), which refers to the village archivist and revenue collector. This post was generally synonymous with village Kayasthas till fairly recent times.
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Notably, Kayasthas also played a significant role in the village administration. Pancholi- a popular appellation of Rajasthani Kayasthas is likely derived from Panchakulika (पञ्चकुलिक) which refers to the member of the village council. For instance, the writer of an 11th century land grant by Guhila Vijayasimha of Rajasthan was the son of a Panchakulika Pandita Uhila.
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Kayasthas also occupied the position of finance minister in those times. For instance, a Srivastava Kayastha named Pandita Suhadadeva was finance minister of the king Bhojavarman Chandela in the 13th century. He is known from several records of the king and he has been variously described as भाण्डागारिक and कोशाधिकाराधिपति. These terms can be equated with the post of सन्निधाता mentioned by Kautilya in his Arthashastra. Many of these Kayasthas enjoyed hereditary ministership. Pandita Suhadadeva himself came from a long line of ministers serving the Chandelas. His genealogy is quoted below.
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This brings us to the point that Kayasthas were also the benefactor of these grants themselves. For instance, members of the family of Suhadadeva enjoyed multiple village-grants for several generations beginning with his ancestor Thakur Jajuka in the 10th century. Grants to these families were in lieu of military and bureaucratic services. Such hereditary land grants were also given to Kayastha families by other dynasties too. We will document major families of such grants in separate threads.

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Curiously enough, we also see instances of Brahmadeya type land grants given to Kayasthas during this period, for purely religious reasons. Such gifts to non-brahmins were rare, perhaps non-existent. Kayasthas seem to be the only non-Brahmin group to have benefited from grants of this nature.

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https://x.com/historiakayasth/status/1794656543033672075

Notably, a king of the Kachhapaghata dynasty of Gwalior named Bhuvanapala has been described as "कायस्थ-वंश-विपिन-अंबुधर" or "the rain cloud to the forest of the Kayastha race;" in other words, the cherisher of Kayasthas.
Based on all of the evidence presented thus far, Chitrarekha Gupta remarks that medieval kings established "Kayastha-colonies" along the lines of Brahmana-agraharas.

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However, an unsavoury aspect of this near monopoly of Kayasthas in the revenue system was rampant corruption by members of this group. Ksemendra and his successor Kalhana of Kashmir are notable in this regard.

The former is know as the author of several satirical works from the 11th century, the most famous of which is Narmamala or "the garland of satires." Kayasthas seem to be the prime target of his satires. He ridicules the Kayasthas calling them death’s agent and how they harassed Brahmins. He further remarks, delusion is deep-rooted in the words and writings of a bureaucrat. He gives an example- as the Rahu grasp the full moon, so does the Kayastha in seizing crops in a moment. A satirical derivation of the name Kayastha from the initials of काक (crow), यम (Yama, the lord of death) and स्थापति (stone cutter) is often ascribed to Kshemendra.
Interestingly enough, this found its way downstream into several Brahminical texts criticising Kayasthas centuries later in the late mediaeval era.
His successor in the 12th century, Kalhana who authored Rajataramgini similarly remarks how Kayastha bureaucrats of his times robbed the subjects in the name of revenue, and only a small fraction of what was realised was given to the king.

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Despite the poetic and satirical exaggerations, most of these criticisms were rooted in truth. Similar sentiments were echoed in the Yajnavalkya smriti which warns the king against Kayasthas harassing his subjects. It was also quoted by Bhatta Lakshmidhara in his digest of Hindu law.

In a subsequent thread, we shall discuss how this was one of the major reasons of Kayasthas-Ninda and their ritual delegimisation in the later medieval times.

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However, just as true was the forgery of land-grants by Brahmins. Most major dynasties have instances of spurious land-grants. These forgeries were sometimes caught by the officers of the revenue department and the forger faced punishment and humiliation. A curious case of such a forgery being caught comes from a record of the Khayarvala dynasty of Bihar.

Some Brahmins forged the land grant of two villages by Vijayachandra in the 12th century. They apparently fooled the local Khayaravala feudatories of the Gahadavalas for years. But it was eventually caught by his officers and the king placed a large Inscription near the village labelling the Brahmins as "लम्पट".

This might have been yet another point of conflict between Kayasthas and Brahmins, as the former were generally responsible for audits ascertaining the genuinity of land-grants.
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As a matter of fact, Apararka, a 12th century commentary on the Yajnavalkya smriti by King Aparaditya of the Shilahara dynasty lays down the procedure of awarding copper-plate land grants. Among the persons addressed in awarding the land-grant, Kayasthas must be included. For this statement, Apararka quotes the Vyas Smriti which mentions Kayasthas among the officers essential for the issuing of a grant:
"कुटुम्बिन-कायस्थ-दूतक-महात्तर"

Then, expounding on the verse 336 of Yajnavalkya, Apararka further defines Kayasthas as: कायस्थः कराधिकृतः
Or Kayasthas are revenue officers.

But, the Vyasa Smriti that we find today has nothing to this effect. Rather, it disparages Kayasthas ascribing low origins to them.
Interestingly enough, PV Kane also remarks that the current Vyas smriti is separated from Apararka by several centuries, likely after the 14th century.

The current evidence suggests, that the original criticism of Kayasthas that was rooted in their corrupt practices and supervision of grants to Brahmins, transformed into attempts at ritual delegimisation of this group.

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In the next thread, we will examine Kayastha-ninda in greater detail in light of their role in revenue administration, contrasting epigraphical evidence with literary- including both secular and religious texts.
Thanks for reading.

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