International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

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Caste, Community, and Corvée: Social Hierarchies and Labor Relations in Medieval Telangana's Agrarian Society

Author(s) Dr. Shaik Syedmiya
Country India
Abstract This paper examines the interlocking structures of caste identity, community organization, and compulsory labor obligations (corvée/vetti) that defined agrarian society in medieval Telangana, approximately from the tenth to the sixteenth century CE. Drawing on epigraphic evidence, copper plate land grants, temple records, and the growing body of Telugu historiography, the study demonstrates that caste hierarchies in the Deccan were not merely ceremonial or ritual constructs but were systematically embedded in economic production, taxation regimes, and labor extraction. The Kakatiya dynasty (c. 1083–1323 CE) institutionalized a layered system of agrarian governance in which dominant peasant castes (Kamma, Reddy, Velama) functioned as intermediaries between the state and cultivating communities, while artisan and service castes were bound to hereditary occupational obligations enforceable through ritual sanction and state coercion. Untouchable communities (Mala, Madiga) occupied the base of this hierarchy, performing corvée labor without compensation or legal recourse. The paper traces these structures through post-Kakatiya successor states—the Musunuri Nayakas, Rachakonda and Devarakonda kingdoms, and the early Vijayanagara provincial administration—showing how labor relations adapted to political transitions while retaining their caste-determined character. Four original data tables synthesize inscriptional and secondary evidence to illuminate taxation categories, corvée obligations, caste-occupational profiles, and the epigraphic record base. The study contributes to broader debates in South Asian agrarian history on the relationship between ritual hierarchy, fiscal organization, and social reproduction.
Keywords medieval Telangana, Kakatiya dynasty, vetti/corvée, caste and labor, agrarian history, Deccan epigraphy, social hierarchy.
Published In Volume 8, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On 2026-06-09
DOI https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i03.81179
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