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Economic Conditions
279
villages, the main occupation of the people was agriculture. With the growth and development of industries, there came into existence the industrial towns where the craftsmen migrated to pursue their crafts. It seems that the Duāraçāmas, which supplied the needs of the cities, were industrial towns. Such expressions as Duāragāmavāsi Vaddhaki, Dräragāmavasi Kumbhakāra, etc., probably refer to the inhabitants of such villages. The Uvāsagadasão tells us of a village of 500 potters outside the city of Polāsapura.3
(iii) Agriculture
(a) Methods : Agriculture was the main source of people's livelihood. It made further progress during this period with the methods of cultivation becoming more perfect than those of the Vedic period. Vast areas were brought under cultivation. New devices were introduced for the irrigation of agricultural land. The literary sources of this period make references to the ploughing and fencing of the fields, irrigating them, sowing the seeds, getting the weeds pulled up, rcaping the harvest, arranging the crops in bundles, getting them trodden, picking of the straw, removing the chaff, winnowing and garnering of the harvest as the various successive stages of the agricultural process.
For the purpose of cultivation, big ploughs were also used.5 At some places, the land was ploughed with hundreds and thousands of ploughslares. We read of the gahāvai Ananda who limited the cultivable land to five hundred ploughshares, cach one ploughing one hundred acres (nizatlana) of land. The ploughing of land and harvesting of crops becamc casy with iron sickles and hoes which began to bc uscd.
(0) Crops: Some new crops scem to have been discovered during this period, crops which are conspicuously absent from Vedic literature. Vihi and Tandula arc tie ierms used for rice
1. Ji, I\'. 344. 2. Ibid. III. 376. 3. Uvā, VII, Isi. 4. Chi. VII. 1, 2; GS, 1. 209, 21; 4:19. 11, 237-; ju. 1o. I. 5. Sari, III, 155.
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