Hindu Administrative Institutions c12.s5.12

c12.s5.12

Kauṭalya makes a scientific classification of the whole land into four broad divisions: sandy, swampy, wet, and dry lands answering roughly to the regional classification of Tamil literature.¹ Of these the first two were generally discarded as unfit for cultivation purposes. The other lands were usually taken up for cultivation of different grains, fruits, and roots. Some of the fields depended entirely on rainfall whilst others were provided with irrigational facilities. Kauṭalya’s knowledge of geography as well as astronomy was accurate. He knew the system of meteorology by which the amount of rainfall was calculated in different parts of the empire. The scientific methods of ploughing and sowing were not unknown. The *Arthaśāstra* recommends the sowing of grains like rice, *tila*, *kodrava* and *priyanku* in the commencement of the rainy season (पूर्ववापाः); *mudga*, *māsha*, and *śaibya* in the middling of the season (मध्यवापाः); and *kusumba*, *masura*, *yava*, *goduma*, etc., towards the close of the rainy season (पश्चाद्वापाः). In irrigation again the state evinced abiding interest. In the absence of facilities for digging canals or channels, aqueducts and water-lifts by bullocks were provided to feed the crops. These are still common in many parts of South India. But such irrigation facilities were given to all for nothing. A water-tax was collected which amounted to one-fifth of the produce. In Kauṭalya’s time the interest in irrigation was so intense and the interest in agriculture so great that the reclamation of the waste was advocated by the state. Uncultivated lands were let on lease to tenants who would offer their services to cultivate them and for the use of which they were empowered to pay from one-fourth to one-fifth of the produce, the state affording irrigational conveniences. If the lands were fed by irrigation canals, the state claimed only one-fifth of the produce; but if water-lifts were provided for, one-fourth of the produce was generally demanded. At least the rate was fixed in such a way that the tenant or the labourer would have a decent and economic living.¹ The village superintendents, physicians and *sthānikas*, veterinary surgeons, horse-trainers, and messengers were endowed with lands, the produce of which went to them for life or during the period of active service. These had no right to alienation. Evidently these refer to crown lands.²