Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c10.10

c10.10

Non-cultivation of land will render it liable to forfeiture. The land thus released will be given to other cultivators in the village in the first instance. Failing that, the State is to settle it with more resourceful people who can make it profitable and can pay rent for it. These may be persons in the employ of the village itself (*Grāmabhṛitakas*) and even the local merchants (*Vaidehaka*). This shows that non-cultivating capitalists were entertained for promoting agriculture instead of depending solely on the actual cultivators or tillers of the soil.