Hawkes J. D. auteur aut IRD Abbas R. auteur aut IRD Casile Anne auteur aut IRD Jaseera C. M. auteur aut IRD Lefrancq C. auteur aut IRD Toraskar S. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access During the mid-first millennium AD, new kingdoms and states emerged across South Asia. At this time, land grants made to Hindu temples are thought to have led to wide-ranging societal transformations. To date, however, neither the land-grant charters nor the changes they are said to have driven have been studied archaeologically. Here, the authors present the results of the first archaeological investigation of the charters and their landscape context. Bringing together the textual record with a survey of 268 religious and residential sites, the results establish historical baselines against which the longue duree developments of South Asian social, political and economic formation can be profitably re-posed. specialized South Asia first millennium AD medieval land grant Hindu temple landscape survey settlement distribution 112 106 [Early access] [17 ] 2022 0003-598X https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010084586 10.15184/aqy.2022.28 0003-598X [F B010084586] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010084586 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2022-05/010084586.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2022-05-04 2025-11-04 fdi:010084586 fre