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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Evaluate the role of nadu and nagaram in the growth of urbanisation under the Cholas.

  • UPSC 2012
  • Early Medieval India, 750-1200

Nadu and nagaram represent two distinct but linked institutions — the first an agrarian territorial unit rooted in kinship and irrigated land, the second a commercial node grafted onto it — and Chola-period urbanisation is best understood as the product of their interaction rather than of either alone. The nadu supplied the agricultural surplus that…

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What the full answer covers

  • The Nadu as the Base Agrarian Unit
  • Brahmadeya and Temple Centres as Urban Nuclei
  • Concrete Urban Trajectories: Kumbakonam and Kanchipuram
  • The Nagaram as the Commercial Engine
  • Evaluating the Relative Weight of Each Institution

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