Sasan (Dingal for 'self-ruled'; IAST: Sāṃsaṇa) was a tax-free land grant given in the form of either partial or whole villages to the Charanas by rulers in medieval India.
[1][2] Charanas as a people commanded great respectability and influence in Rajputana, given high positions and honors in the royal courts[3] and being considered a form of landed nobility.
[10] They were also responsible for writing the histories of royal and cadet lines, affirming the status of the Rajput ruler by celebrating his valor and rank among his clan and other Charanas.
[13] The British agent Archibald Adams, in his history of Rajputana states, noted that the Charanas were "a sacred race, holding large religious grants of land".
[14] In the kingdom of Marwar, circa 1880, the Charanas controlled over 350 tax-free estates, estimated to be worth over 400,000 rupees in total revenue assessment.
For example, Nainsi's Vigat records that Kisna, a Charana, sold a portion of his village to Kachara, a Brahman, which had previously been mortgaged to the same person.
[12] Terms such as dharmada, punyarth bhom, muafi, punya, and udik-inam, which signified religious nature of the grant, were synonym with Sasan.
This led to illegal grabbing of land among siblings, with disputes invariably involving litigation with their partners due to their custom of inheritance, which required equal division of property (charania-bant).