DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

10.2] PRIMITIVE FEUDALISM AND TRADE 359
who were his lieges, as I have already said, cast themeslves into the fir* and burn themselves
with the king “to keep him company in the next world... When the king dies, and he leaves a
great treasure, and the sons who remain would not touch it for anything in the world... And for
this reason there is a most immense quantity of treasure in this kingdom/’
This tradition of realty beyond death appears also in inscriptions
(EC. 10, Kolar 129, circa A. D. 1220 : Mulbagal 77-8, circa A. D. 1250.) A
servant or loyal follower would on occasion sacrifice his own head
after the death of a lord who was no higher than the Odeya headman
of a village (EC 10, Chintamani 31 of about A. D. 1050, and perhaps
Goribidnur 73 of A. D. 900)., One may read of similar performances
elsewhere (Masudi, Prairies d’or trans. de Meynard-Courteille, 2.86).
Primitive as this looks, it had now a significance beyond the
primitive, in that loyalty to the chief transcended all other
considerations, of which the most important had previously been
loyalty to the group, whether tribe, caste, community, or large patriarchal
family. These personal loyalties ordered in a hierarchy constitute the
formal apparatus of feudalism. The formation of the hierarchy was
inevitable, once kings had begun to delegate high administrative
powers to samanta barons. This final stage of feudalism from above
can be dated fairly accurately to the second half of the 6th century A.
D. For, samanta, meant ‘royal neighbour’ to Yasadharman about A.D.
532, in boasting of victory over the Hun invader Mihiragula (Fleet
33). By A. D. 592, it could mean only ‘feudal baron’ (EL 30.163-181).
Incidentally, this dates the Amarakosa to the early 6th century or
perhaps a hundred years earlier at the Gupta court; on the other hand,
the poet Bhartrhari should have to be displaced to the end of the 6th
century, or perhaps another hundred years later.
10.2. The real basic movement was towards the creation of a
counterpart to the new trader. Trade on an international scale had
become very profitable, as (Fig. 48) could be seen at the bigger ports.
Prevailing seasonal winds, currents, estuaries, roadsteads., harbours, and
pirates had all been known for centuries. The trade was served, at least
as far as the Mala-bar coast, by four-masted south-Chinese ships with
stern-post rudders. Drawing not less than ten feet, with crews of 200
to 300, 50 or 60 individual cabins for merchants on the single