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3. THE AGE OF FEUDALISM
(300 B. C.-1500 A. D.) Feudalism, the newer form of tribalism, entrenched itself strongly in the world Circa 300 B. C. Greece and
Bhārata developed strong monarchies. Rome Monarchy
was on the way and Octavion became the first monarch of Rome by the end of the first century B. C. Monarch was the sovereign owner of the country and the people. He, by his edicts and decrees, could make laws governing the economic and social life of the people. He was the embodiment of the State and all political powers vested in him. The nobles and the common people derived their powers from the sovereign. All the secular powers centered in him. The priest gave him the divine powers. The monarch was pronounced the God incarnate, higher than Ganapati or Brahmaņaspati, Indra or Prajāpati. The centralisation of secular and divine powers gave him strength, prestige and authority. Republicanism was a soothing factor and it largely tempered the autocratic powers of the Basileja or the Brahma but it could not survive even by penetrating the Āryan tribal society. Rather, the Aryan tribalism reacted more violently and harshly in its newer form of Feudalism.
The monarch was supported by the feudal nobility who owned large estates and slaves. The gradation went down to the petty land owners who acted as the local agents of the feudal nobles and the monarch. The land ceased to be the communal property. It nominally vested in the monarch and actually in the real holder. The industry and commerce had not yet powerfully developed but they
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