________________
SOCIAL LIFE AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 181
1'e traditional number of cities and towns, n Jambudipa varies from sixty to eighty-four housand, which is evidently an exaggerated igure. Sixteen were the great countries, as we noted, and six were the most prosperous and flourishing cities. The bulk of the populace ived in gāmas or villages. The number of inhabitants in a village might vary from thirty to one thousand families. The common occupation of the villagers was agriculture or farming. The cultivable lands around the villages were known as gamakhettas. Every care was taken to protect them from dangers. Fences 1 (vatì) were erected as protection against wild animals, and snares 2 were laid to catch wild birds. Watchmen 3 were appointed to keep watch on them. Care was taken to irrigate the fields.*
1
The holdings might be small enough which could be managed by the members of one family with the help, in some cases, of a hired man', or they might be big enough, extending over one thousand karisas (acres) or more."
The khettas were cultivated by means of ploughs driven by oxen." Soil was turned with
1 Jātaka, i, 215.
2 Ibid., i, 143.
8 Ibid., ii, 110.
Ibid., iv, 167; v, 412.
Ibid., i, 277.
Ibid., iii, 293.
7 Ibid., ii, 166
