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The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s5: V. Agriculture

The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s5

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V. Agriculture

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The beginnings of agriculture in Bengal, as in the rest of India, have to be traced back to the pre-historic past (*supra* p. 562). Even so, it seems very probable that in the initial stage both settlement and agriculture followed the courses of the great river-systems of the province, which acted as powerful fertilising agents of the soil in their neighbourhood. With the growth of population, however, (owing partly perhaps to an increase in birth-rate, partly to immigration) there came about a steady increase in the cultivated area. One can discern indications of this extension of cultivation in the copper-plate inscriptions of the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries. As stated above (p. 265), most of these interesting documents (*supra* pp. 49, 51) relate to the purchase of land. Curiously enough, however, the character of the land purchased is, in most cases, described as *aprada*, *aprahata* and *khila* (unsettled, uncultivated and fallow). One particular plate (Gunaighar Grant of Vainyagupta)¹ describes five plots of land donated to a Buddhist monastery as *śūnya-pratikara-hajjika-khila-bhūmi* (water-logged, waste land, paying no requital or tax). Another (Tippera Plate) records how a community of Brāhmaṇas were settled and given lands for cultivation within a forest region, “where deer, buffaloes, boars, tigers, serpents, etc., enjoy, according to their will, all pleasures of home life.”² These instances suggest the inference that the three centuries, to which these inscriptions relate, witnessed a steady extension of cultivation and rural settlement. It is possible, though we have no positive evidence to prove it, that this movement of agricultural extension commenced much earlier, and continued with intermittent force and varying effect from century to century, and from region to region. The pressure of a growing population, the growing desire of priests for material prosperity, and the religious zeal of kings, — all served in various ways to organise a widespread attack on some of the ‘negative’ lands of the province, which settlement and agriculture had at first avoided.

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¹ *IHQ.* VI. 56, 59-60.

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² *EI.* XV. 307, 311.

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But whatever might have been the cause of this extension of cultivation, there is no doubt that by the seventh century A.D. the bulk of the people had taken to it as the chief means of livelihood. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang bears testimony to the fact that in all parts of the province the countryside was regularly and assiduously cultivated, and produced grains, flowers and fruits in abundance.³ The description of Varendrī in the *Rāmacharita* (III. 2 ff) confirms the testimony of the Chinese pilgrim. And so do the copper-plate inscriptions ranging from the 8th to the 13th century, which, moreover, mention the cultivators (*kshetra-karāḥ* or *karshakāḥ*) as an important class apart from the officials, Brāhmaṇas and others, and in various ways convey an idea of the important rôle they played in the economic life of the community.

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³ *Beal-Records.* II. 191, 194, 199, 200-201.

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Concerning agricultural practice as it obtained in ancient Bengal, it is not possible to draw any comprehensive picture. It seems certain, however, that paddy (*dhānya*) was cultivated from a remote antiquity as the staple food-crop of the people. The Mahāsthān Brāhmī inscription probably refers to a rice granary located at Puḍanagala (*Puṇḍranagara*).⁴ The *Rāmacharita* (III. 17) mentions “paddy plants of various kinds” grown in Varendrī. The inscriptions of the Sena kings mention “smooth fields growing excellent paddy,”¹ and “myriads of villages, consisting of land growing paddy in excessive quantities.”² Kālidāsa’s *Raghuvamśa* (iv. 37) affords us a glimpse into the method of rice cultivation. Describing Raghu’s conquest of the Vangas, the poet remarks that Raghu uprooted and replanted them (*utkhāta-pratiropita*) like rice plants. Rice, as is well known, is sown in three different ways—broadcast, by drill, and by transplantation from a seed-bed where it has been broadcast sown. Of these the third method is, as a rule, the least risky and the most profitable. That it was known and practised in this province at least as early as the fifth century A.D. seems clear from the aforesaid statement of the great Sanskrit poet. The different processes of reaping and threshing also appear to have been similar to those prevailing at present.³

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⁴ For different interpretations, *cf.* *EI.* XXI. 83 ff; *IHQ.* X. 57 ff.

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¹ IB. 129.

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² Ibid. 89-90.

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³ RC. (Kavi-praśasti, v. 13) refers to the threshing floor where the reaped crops were spread out and threshed by means of bullocks which went round and round over them.

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Another food-crop cultivated was probably sugar-cane. The classical author, Aelian, speaks of a kind of honey expressed from reeds which grew among the Prasioi. Lucan says that the Indians near the Ganges used to quaff sweet juices from tender reeds.⁴ Suśruta (45, 138-40) mentions a variety of sugar-cane called *pauṇḍraka*; and most commentators of Sanskrit lexicons agree that it was so named because it was grown in the Pauṇḍra country (North Bengal). These statements, taken together, naturally suggest the inference that certain species of sugar-cane were cultivated in Bengal from very early times. It is not improbable, as a recent writer has pointed out, that from the term *pauṇḍraka* have been derived such modern vernacular names as *pauṇḍiā*, *pauṇḍā*, *puṇḍi*, etc.—a celebrated variety of sugar-cane cultivated in almost all parts of India.⁵

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⁴ McCrindle, Ancient India, p. 122, f.n. 3.

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⁵ JBORS. iv. 437. The Rāmacarita (iii. 17) also seems to refer to the cultivation of “sugar-cane plants” in Varendrī.

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Besides the above, contemporary records mention a variety of other crops grown in different parts of Bengal. These include malabathrum and spikenard, mentioned in the *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea* among the exports of this province.⁶ These were obviously of an excellent quality, and were grown on an extensive scale in the Eastern Himalayas. Another cultivated crop appears to have been mustard. The Vappaghoshavāṭa Grant of Jayanāga (7th century A.D.) mentions the existence of a *sarshapa-yānaka* (mustard-channel) in the Audambarika-*vishaya* of Karṇasuvarṇa.¹ Further, epigraphic records, ranging from the eighth to the thirteenth century, tell us that betel-nut palm (*guvāka*) and cocoanut (*nārikela*) were extensively grown up and down the land.² Betel-vines were also cultivated in the form of plantations (*barajas*) and formed, under the Sena kings, a source of revenue to the state.³ Cotton was also cultivated to feed an important industry of the province.⁴ Fruits like mango (*āmra*), bread-fruit (*panasa*), pomegranate (*dālimva*), plantain, *bassia latifolia* (*madhūka*), date (*kharjura*), citron (*vīja*) and figs (*parkaṭi*) were also widely cultivated.⁵

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⁶ Schoff, Periplus. p. 47.

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¹ For references cf. *supra* p. 80 f.n. 1.

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² The Ashrafpur Grant of Devakhaḍga (*supra* pp. 86 ff.) specifically states that the donee should enjoy the donated land by the cultivation of betel-nut palms and cocoanuts (*MASB.* I. 90). The *Rāmacarita* (III. 19) refers to Varendrī as "the congenial soil for cocoanut trees in the world."

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³ *IB.* 141, 178, 180, *etc.*

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⁴ Kautilya (Bk. II. Ch. 11) mentions *kārpāsika* or cotton fabrics manufactured in Vaṅga. According to the inscription of Vijayasena (v. 23), ordinary rural folk were familiar with seeds of cotton. The early *Charyā-padas* also refer to cotton cultivation (*BGD.* 41). Referring to the people of Bengal, Marco Polo says, "They grow cotton, in which they derive a great trade" (Yule, *Marco Polo*, II. 115).

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⁵ The cultivation of mango and bread-fruit is mentioned in a large number of Pāla and Sena inscriptions. Hiuen Tsang refers to the abundant growth of *panasa* in Puṇḍravardhana and gives a detailed account of this fruit which was 'highly esteemed' (*Beal-Records*, II. 194). The Govindapur Plate refers to an "orchard of pomegranates" (*dālimva-kshetra*) (*IB.* 97). The plantain tree is frequently depicted in the Pāhārpur terra-cotta plaques (Paharpur. 70). It also occurs among the sculptures, for instance, in the Chaṇḍi images of the Rajshahi Museum (*supra* p. 451). *Vīja* (citron) and *kharjura* (date) are mentioned in the Khālimpur Plate of Dharmapāla, *parkaṭi* (fig) in the Koṭālipāḍā Plate of Dharmāditya, and *bassia latifolia* (*madhūka*) in the Rāmgañj Plate of Īśvaraghosha (*IB.* 154, 156), and probably also in the *Rāmacarita* (III. 21).

Cites (6)