India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s10.21

c8.s10.21

Cultivated land was divided into a number of holdings (*kshetra*) which are specifically defined as plots where crops were grown (*dhānyānāṁ bhavane*, V.2.1). A systematic survey of agricultural land appears to have been undertaken by special officers called *kshetrakara* (III.2.21), who measured out each field and fixed its area (*kshetra-bhakti*) in terms of the *kāṇḍa* measure (IV.1.23); for example *dvikāṇḍā kshetra-bhaktiḥ*, a field having an area equal to two *kāṇḍa* measures. The estimated area of individual fields was further expressed in terms of the quantity of seed required for its sowing (*Tasya vāpaḥ*, V.1.45). The division of arable area into separate holdings (*kshetra*) shows that they were held under individual ownership. The term *kaidārya* (IV.2.40), 'a group of fields,' probably indicates some kind of consolidated holdings.