History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c39.s3.19

v1.c39.s3.19

After the collapse of the Maurya power (187 B.C.), two important political changes came about in India: the rise of the brahmanic and revivalist dynasty of the Sungas, and the intrusion of the Bactrian Greeks. The Sungas made the caste barriers more rigid, and initiated feudalism in India by giving land grants to the brahmans and the upper caste people (towards the end of the second century B.C.). This was the period of the compilation of the saṃhitās named after Manu and Yājñavalkya; it also witnessed the rise of private ownership and diversification of trade, probably on account of the strengthening of hereditary caste structure.