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ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
195 ments, the sickle ( datra )!, axe ( kuha la?, paraşu? ), hatchet or spade ( sattara- phavara in Hindi ), scissors (pippalaga) and knives ( churiya )* have been mentioned.
Irrigation-Since the various activites like ploughing and sowing were done in the rainy season, rains must have been the most substantial source of irrigation.5 Apart from the rainfall, the water from rivers, lakes, ponds and wells were also used for irrigating the fields. In the villages a number of peasants irrigated their fields in their respective turn (vārageņa ) from a common watersourse ( sārani paniya ). An instance can be seen when a peasant secretly broke through the water-course during the turn of the other in order to irrigate his own field.?
Some of the regions were naturally rich in water-resources, and there the fields could be easily irrigated from the water of rivers or ponds even in the absence of rains.8 Tosali is mentioned as such a place where water was found in abundance (anugadesa) and there was never a fear of drought. But frequent references to famine (dubbhikkha) and epidemic
1. Ibid. 2. NC. 3, p. 5. 3. NO. 1, p. 31. 4, NC. 2, p. 5. 5. NC. 3, p. 160. 6. The commentary on Brhat Kalpa Bhās va provides us with interesting
details regarding the irrigation sources, according to which rainfall was the main source of irrigation in the Lãta country, while in Sindhu the fields were irrigated from rivers, in Dravida from ponds and in Uttarāpatha from wells (Bp. VI. 2, p. 336 ). The same text divides the fields into two groups, viz. setu and ketu, the former being irrigated by means of wells and the latter depending on rainfall
(Bih. Bhā. 1. 826). 7. तत्थेगो करिसगो अण्णस्स वारए अगावदेसा पादेग णिक्कं भेत्तुण... अप्पणो खेत्ते
Tifozi -NC. 1, p. 115. 8. आणुगदेसो णतिसलीलादीहिं जलब हुलो...."तम्मि वरिसेण विणा वि सस्सं णिप्फज्जति
NC. 3, p. 538. 9. Ibid.
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