With reference to the history of India, the terms "kulyavapa" and "dronavapa" denote
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) measurement of land
Kulyavapa and dronavapa were units for measuring the area of land, used in Gupta-age copper-plate land grants from Bengal. The Paharpur copper plate of Gupta year 159 (479 CE) fixes their relation: 4 adhavapas made 1 dronavapa and 8 dronavapas made 1 kulyavapa.
- ✓ (a) Inscriptions of the Gupta age give the popular area units in Bengal as kulyavapa, dronavapa and adhavapa, and the same names survived in eastern Bengal as local land measures.
- ✗ (b) These are not coins. Grants record prices in coins (dinaras) per unit of land (the Faridpur plates give the price of one kulyavapa as 4 dinaras), while kulyavapa itself is the unit of land area.
- ✗ (c) The terms measure the size of the land granted or sold; they are not a classification of urban land.
- ✗ (d) They have no ritual meaning; they occur in land-grant records as area measures.
Remember · Kulyavapa, dronavapa and adhavapa were Gupta-age land-area units in Bengal copper-plate grants: 8 dronavapas = 1 kulyavapa; 4 adhavapas = 1 dronavapa.
Sources
- D. C. Sircar, Studies in the Political and Administrative Systems in Ancient and Medieval India (Motilal Banarsidass, 1974), Ch. X 'Some Measures of Land' ↗ · reference work “4 Adhavapas made 1 Dronavapa, and 8 Dronavapas made 1 Kulyavapa. 1 Since the introduction, in the medieval period, of the unit of measurement called Bigha (usually 80 square cubits) … But the Kulavay (ancient Kulyavapa), Don (ancient Dronavapa) and Adha (ancient Adhavapa) are still locally known in the eastern … According to the Faridpur plates, the price of one Kul- yavapa of land was 4 dinaras (gold coins) which, accoiding to the Baigram copper-plate inscription,”
- Saradha Srinivasan, Mensuration in Ancient India (Ajanta Publications, 1979), on area measures ↗ · reference work “The earliest record to mention kulyavapa, as a unit of measurement is in the Dhanaidaha copper plate inscription”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·