History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.107.5

v4.c62.107.5

by means of vārtā the king secures treasury and army whereby he brings under control his own side and the enemy. In the Sabhāparva⁶³ 5. 79 and Ayodhyākāṇḍa 100. 47 it is declared that when the world relies on vārtā it easily prospers. The Śānti-parva (263. 3) gives the warning that this world would cease to exist if vārtā was given up, that this world is rooted in vārtā and is sustained by the three vedas (68. 35). The Vanaparva (150. 30) states that the whole world is sustained by vārtā i. e. by merchandise, mines, trade, agriculture and tending cows, she-goats and ewes. The Nitivākyāmṛta (p. 93) after defining vārtā as above emphasizes that the king secures the abundance of everything when vārtā is prosperous and that the man who has his own agriculture, milch-cattle, plot for growing vegetables and a well in his own house has indeed all the pleasures of this world. These quotations indicate what importance was attached to agriculture and the economic structure of society. The result is that in the Arthaśāstra economic matters occupy a very large space.