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CHAPTER V
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
Social stability and political security ensure the economic growth and prosperity of a country. In India, however, the usual economic life in small towns and villages has been least affected by such political vicissitudes, although it must have hampered the economy at large, i.e. in large commercial towns having a rich and flourishing trade. The general picture of society as depicted in the NC. is that of economic prosperity and opulence, although the vast differences or inequalities in the distribution of wealth may not be totally ignored. The wealth and affluence of the kings and nobles, the setthis occupying a high status because of their economic assistance to the State, the rich caravan-leaders (satt havaha) and merchants (vāniya) having a Aourishing trade by land or sea, the peasant population (kari saga) working hard on fields, those following the industrial arts and crafts (sippa), the slaves (dasa) and a large number of servants and hired labourers (bhayagakammakara) earning their livelihood by hard manual work, and a large number of monks and ascetics depending on society for all the essential needs, display the economic life at its various levels. In the following pages an attempt has been made to survey the economic conditions of the age on the basis of the NC. Agriculture (Kisivāvāra, Kisikamma)?
Cultivators and Fields-Agriculture was held in contempt by the Jainas as it involved killing of the innumerable insects. Those following this profession were, however, designated as "Åryans and not as Mlecchas—the two groups in which all
1. NC. 3, pp. 160, 227.
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