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13
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
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The cultivated land or fields were known as khetta 1 and these were situated not very far (abbhā se-adūre) from the houses.2 Vappa or keyāra was another term which denoted a wetfield' or field having a flourishing field-crop. The peasants always cherished to possess large fields having a flourishing field-crop of the superior variety of food grains (višişțasasya) like sugarcane, barley, rice etc, Proper care was taken to protect the field from itis or the calamities of the season (itivargitatvam).5 According to the ancient authorities ītis or the calamities of the season could be of six types, viz. 'i) excessive rain, (ii) drought, (iii) locusts, (iv) rats, (v) parrots and (vi) foreign invasions.
Agricultural Operations—The twenty-four varieties of foodgrains and the different varieties of fruits, vegetables, spices, oilseeds etc. as mentioned before, formed a part of the Indian dietary during this time. These products were cultivated in the country.
A regular process was to be followed in the field of cultivation. First of all the land was ploughed by means of plough driven by the bullocks and the soil was prepared for sowing. Agricultural labourers (kammakara) were employed for ploughing the land.8 Ploughing and sowing (vapana) was mostly done in the rainy season. The peasants usually stored up all the necessary articles required by them at home before the advent of the rainy season, so that the work of cultivation
1. NO. 2, p. 9; NC. 3, p. 227; Bųh. Vt. 2, p. 263. 2. NC. 2, p. 83. 3. In the Arthaśāstra, kedāra is used in the sense of a wet-field, and a
collection of adjoining wet-fields has been called kaidarya of
kaidāraka.-Agrawala, V.S., India as known to Paņini, p. 195. 4. NC. 4, pp. 409–10. 5. NC. 4, p. 410. 6. Kalidāsa, Raghuvanía, 1. 63. 7. NC. 3, p. 150. 8. NO. 3, pp. 273, 519.
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