Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 296

271
Sec. I]
STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SŪTRA
But the picture of this problem is, however, incomplete, as these evidences are concerned only with the royal amnesty declared on the occasion of the birth ceremony of a new born prince.1
Moreover, it does not convey a clear idea of ownership of the land whether the particular individual or the whole village was the owner of the same.
But it is apparently clear from the evidences of the private possession of wealth and property by the individual householders, that the holdings of land by the cultivators were governed by a law which was a kind of tenure by which the purchaser obtained the right of permanent enjoyment over it and of selling or donating it, if he desired to do so at any time.
On the basis of these holdings of land by the tenants taxes were assessed and collected by the revenue officials of the Government from them in kind or cash.
Thus the stray references to the land settlement occurring in this canonical work give an idea of the presentdayproprietorship and of the officials who were concerned with the works of measuring and recording lands, collecting and sometimes remitting taxes under the royal orders.
Classification of Land
According to the BhS the land may be classified into three groups, viz. field (ksetra), garden (udyana), and forest (atavi or vana or käntāra) as distinguished by the names of different crops, flowers and fruits respectively, e. g. Asogavana, Sattavannavana, Campayavana, Cuyavana, Tilagavana, Chattovavana, Asanavana, Siddhatthavana, Bandhujivagavanas, Ambavana', etc.
Implement and Agricultural Operation
The BhS makes incidental references to some implements used in the cultivation of the fields and harvesting of the crops
1 BhS, 11, 11, 429. 3 b, 1, 1, 19.
2 Ib, 3, 1, 134; 3, 2, 144. Ib, 11, 9, 417.