The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c28.13

v1.c28.13

The bulk of the population consisted of actual cultivators, and Megasthenes remarks that their avocation was to such a degree defined (by the rule of caste) that they might be seen peacefully pursuing it in the sight of contending armies⁵. The higher classes in the country had not a landowning, but an official, qualification, being entitled for their maintenance to a defined portion of the revenue. This corresponds to the jāgīr system of Musalmān times. The assignment might be the revenue of an estate, a village, a town, or according to circumstances⁶. On a minor scale the same principle was applied to the ranching class, which received for maintenance a proportion of the stock⁷.