What is "brahmadeya"

Brahmadeya (given to Brahmin) was tax free land gift either in form of single plot or whole villages donated to Brahmans in the early medieval India. It was initially practiced by the ruling dynasties and was soon followed up by the chiefs, merchants, feudatories, etc. Brahmadeya was devised by the Brahmanical texts as the surest mean to achieve merit and destroy sin.

Brahmadeya helped the expansion of agrarian economy and the emergence of urban settlements. It also helped the Kings to gain the ideological support for their rule. Brahamdeya sometimes also resulted in alienation of peasant land rights and created social tension and clash leading even to death between peasant, Brahmans and the Kings.