ABSTRACT
The village is related to town and city through a vertical system of relationships in which urban goods move downward from city to town to local market or village store while grain moves upward from town to city. The pattern of patron-client relationships can be regarded as providing an underlying structure to economic relationships throughout the Gopalpur region. The system of economic relationships is one of direct exchange between households in different villages. An effective system for the exchange of goods and services between villages is thus of considerable adaptive significance. Within environmental limitations, agricultural specialization encourages the development of patterns of exchange and these patterns encourage agricultural specialization. The South Indian world view, which could only be the product of a literate urban civilization, provides the rationale for the farmer’s life and sets the stage for productive cooperation and exchange both within and between villages.
