Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

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

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Sec. I]
STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SUTRA
289
wheels (arahatta) etc., while the irrigation of the Ketu land was done by the natural process of rainfall.1
The agricultural operation was carried on as usual by the man behind the plough in proper time and season with the expectation of getting the better harvests."
In this connection the festival of the ploughing-deity (Sitajanna) was celebrated by the peasants and thus the cultivation of land was sanctified by a religious performance with the hope of obtaining good results in the out-turn of crops.
It appears from other Jaina texts that the agricultural operation was carried on by the farmers on a large scale as it is evidenced by the fact revealed in the Uväsagadasão1 that Ananda, the wealthy householder of Vanijyagrama, had five hundred ploughs, each having the capacity of ploughing and preparing a field of one hundred acres (Niyattana).
As regards the agricultural implements they refer to three types of ploughs, viz. hala, kuliya and namgala. Spade (Kudala) and the fencing of cultivated plots of land were also known."
There are also references in some other Jaina texts to the pounding of varieties of corns in Ganjaśālā, a wooden mortar (udukhala) for cleansing rice and a threshing floor (Khalaya), a cattle-feeding-basket (ogokilanja) and winnowing sieve (suppa
kattara).10
Besides these, they make mention of the sugar-cane press
1 Brhatkalpa Bhāṣya, 1, 826.
2 Uttara. Ti. 1. p. 109.
3 Bṛhatkalpa Bhasya, 3, 3647.
4 Uvasagadasão, 1. p. 7. Nivartana is referred to by Baudha
yana. See The Economic History of Ancient India'-p. 190 S. K. Das. Vide 'Life in Ancient India' p. 90, f. n. 9.
5 Avasyaka Curni, p. 81.
Uvāsagadasão, 2. p. 23.
7 Vide 'Life in Ancient India', p. 90. Nisitha Curni, 9, p. 511. 9 Vyavahara Bhasya, 10, 23, Suya, 4, 2, 12.
10 Uvasagadasão, 2, p. 23; Suya 4, 7, 12 Vide Life in Ancient India' p. 90. 37