Final answer:
Nayar lineages, similar to other historical elite lineages, were indeed economic and property owning units. They managed estates with serfs and produced various goods, operating largely outside of a market-based economy and instead through direct management and distribution of goods.
Step-by-step explanation:
Were Nayar lineages economic or property owning units? In historical contexts, elite lineages typically had their own estates with serfs who worked in a variety of capacities such as servants, farmers, and artisans. These estates were a key aspect of the economy, with each clan commandeering essential goods directly from them and exchanging goods and lands within their own networks.
Aristocratic clans did not typically sell these parcels of land or the goods produced because markets were not prevalent, and there was no standardized currency. Instead, they relied on the manorial system, which involved direct requisition of goods from their estates, and these clans managed the production and distribution of these goods internally.
Over time, aristocracies, such as the Han clans or the Heian period court nobles, secured more control over land and shifted the economy back towards a manorial system, where they practiced substantial economic control but were also subject to certain systemic limitations, like divided rights to the land in the case of Heian aristocrats.