Social organisation and social structure

Medieval Indian society was organised through overlapping ties of caste, kinship, religion, occupation, and locality, rather than through a single hierarchy that applied identically everywhere. A person belonged at once to a caste or jati, a family and lineage, a village or town community, and a religious tradition, and each tie carried rights and obligations. A concrete example is the village artisan: a potter or blacksmith belonged to his jati, served the village through customary shares, and also negotiated with the state over revenue and labour. Understanding this overlapping structure is the key to avoiding oversimplified accounts of medieval society.