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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Throw light on the condition of common man in the Gupta period.

  • UPSC 2007
  • Guptas, Vakatakas and Vardhanas

The label "Golden Age," coined for the Gupta era on the strength of its art, literature and philosophy, tells us little about how the ordinary peasant, artisan or labourer actually lived. When the question is narrowed from courtly achievement to the material condition of the common man — access to land, revenue burdens, village administration,…

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What the full answer covers

  • Land, agriculture and the categories of holding
  • The land-grant system and the changing peasant-state relationship
  • The tax burden on the village
  • Village-level administration and the erosion of central oversight
  • Wages, labour and unfreedom
  • Guild-based crafts and urban-commercial contraction
  • …and 1 more sections, with a conclusion

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