Social Life in Northern India With Reference to Bihar Cir. A.D. 1000-1300

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A couple of years back Professor R S Sharma, one of the most eminent historians of India, gave the Karpoori Thakur Memorial Lecture in the Patna Museum the theme was quite appropriate 'Social Life in Northern India with reference to Bihar, Cir AD. 1000-1300 it was well received and some people told me that it should the printed. I am glad Sri Naseem Akhtar, Director, Directorate of Museums, Bihar has arranged its publication. It will be a landmark in the history of Bihar.

This study first discusses the background to social changes in the medieval period. Free gifts of villages to the priests and some others marked a definite change. This began in Bihar in the 7th century A.D. The Rajput and some other kingdoms initiated the procовя and it continued in the Pala and Pratihara period.

The Kathasaritsagara of the eleventh century A.D. noted that the traders in some areas carried their trade through forests to evade the payment of duties.

The Government of Bihar have decided to organise memorial lectures to commemorate the memory of Jananayak Karpoori Thakur, former Chief Minister of Bihar. He was a messiah of poors and down-trodden and an exponent of social justice in Bihar. A man of multidimensional personality, Shri Karpoori Thakur fought lifelong for a society based on social and economic equality. Prof. Ram Sharan Sharma, retired Professor and Head, Department of History. Delhi University, Delhi, a well-known historian of International repute, was invited to deliver the first memorial lecture. Prof. Sharma has kindly accepted my request and chose a subject related to the social structure of northern India, "Social life in Northern India with reference to Bihar, Cir. A.D. 1000-1300".

The lecture was delivered on March 30, 1997 in the Seminar Hall of the Patna Museum, Patna and was presided over by Prof. J. C. Jha, retired Professor and Head, Department of History, Patna University, Patna. The memorial lecture was inaugurated by Janab Abdul Bari Siddiqui, the then Hon'ble Ministe, Art, Culture and Youth, Bihar and a close associate of Jananayak. It may be recorded here that in spite of his busy schedule, he constantly guided me to organise the said memorial lecture successfully.