Journal of Advanced Zoology ISSN: 0253-7214 Volume 44 Issue S-5 Year 2023 Page 2412:2419 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ - 2412 - A Study of The Paradigm Shift in The Land Ownership and The Provision of Land Grants in Ancient India Jasmer Singh 1* , Tabish Hashmi 2 1,2 Department of History, LPU, Punjabi, India *Corresponding author’s: Jasmer Singh Article History Received: 06 June 2023 Revised: 05 Sept 2023 Accepted: 15 Nov 2023 CC License CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 Abstract The present research paper deals with the concept and the dynamics of land ownership and the provisions of land grants in Ancient India. The theoretical concept of the ownership of the land and the land grant underwent tremendous changes and transformation in this period. The private ownership of land with rights of alienation in Ancient India secured through land grants was mainly religious in nature and were enjoyed by the priestly class. In course of time the private ownership of the land became an important constituent of the social structure. However, this was not applicable for all the landholding classes. The other sort of assignees was under the strict control of the rulers. Their land was liable to be confiscated and transferred. In the later Gupta age land and the proprietary rights in the land grew in importance and was at the helm of all social, cultural, religious, economic and political activities till the establishment of Delhi Sultanate. The land grants were given to officers and religious groups and establishments in exchange of services rendered to the state which are indicatives of economic crisis in the period on the one hand and on the other denotes that land in this period was a medium of social mobilization and social position. The society became more stratified and complicated. The primary and the secondary sources used in this paper are immense and varied in volume and content. Epigraphs, inscriptions, coins, cowries, texts all have been used to prepare a monograph to shed light on this important aspect which in many ways shaped the social, political, religious and economic history of the country. Keywords: Landownership, Land Grants, Private Ownership, Stratified Society, Social Mobilization, Epigraphy 1. Introduction Chronic In almost all societies irrespective of time and space ownership of land has been of great value and its possession has been considered a great status. Further the land when received as gift by the ruler has been a matter of pride and privilege. The concept of the rights over the land either of a community or of an individual or even of a ruler in the region has been characterized by imperceptible changes which crisscrossed through commune control to private ownership. Till the early Vedic age, the significance of the land as wealth and property was not established.1 A mild beginning of the importance of land as an item of wealth emerged in the post Vedic age. However, in the late 800 BCE with the dominance of agricultural activity, land’s importance grew to a significant level. The practice of land grants which became quite vogue after the 5 th century was thus unknown and despised in the early Vedic age. In the Vedic literature even, we find the prohibition on gifting the land to anyone. The communal control on the land denotes the tribal nature of the society in the Vedic period. Land grants were thus strictly forbidden in the Vedic texts, the Shatpatha Brahmana testifies this statement.2 In Mahabharata we find that lands cannot be given away even to the sacrificial priest on the sacrificial plea. Obviously, this information is in direct contrast with practice of sale, purchase and giving land to the Brahmins in the later times. In Post Vedic age, there were changes in approach towards the land now the lands were no longer held in common. Occasional references of grants of land also were now heard. The sale and purchase of land also has been noticed. Although in many Brahmanical text we find the criticism of such practices but an important change had already been taken place. Another important phenomenal change was identification of the labor in association with land was also noticed. In