Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c5.53

c5.53

As for the local or physical aspects of agriculture, we need not go much deeper, for it is always determined by the condition of the soil, climate or water-supply in such parts of the country where lands are brought under cultivation. And these facts were not materially different then from what they are now. Mighty rivers like the Gaṅgā, Sindhu, Yamunā, and also other smaller ones like the Kaṇṇapeṇṇā, Godāvarī and Soṭṭhivati watered and enriched practically the whole of the continent except perhaps Rājaputānā. As to climate, it will not be unfair to say that on the whole, apart from slight variations, it was not different in substance from what it is now. The only part which looms large before our eyes as unfortunate in getting sufficient rain and thus becoming famine-stricken, was Kaliṅga or Orissa, which, even to-day, is not well-off in this respect.