Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s4.265

v1.c3.s4.265

Urvarā is with Kṣetra the regular expression, from the Rigveda¹ onwards, denoting a piece of ‘ploughland’ (ἄρουρα). Fertile (apnasvatī) fields² are spoken of as well as waste fields (ārtanā).³ Intensive cultivation by means of irrigation is clearly referred to both in the Rigveda⁴ and in the Atharvaveda,⁵ while allusion is also made to the use of manure.⁶ The fields (kṣetra) were carefully measured according to the Rigveda.⁷ This fact points clearly to individual ownership in land for the plough, a conclusion supported by the reference of Apālā, in a hymn of the Rigveda,⁸ to her father’s field (urvarā), which is put on the same level as his head of hair as a personal possession. Consistent with this are the epithets ‘winning fields’ (urvarā-sā, urvarā-jit, kṣetra-sā),⁹ while ‘lord of fields’ used of a god¹⁰ is presumably a transfer of a human epithet (urvarā-pati). Moreover, fields are spoken of in the same connexion as children,¹¹ and the conquest of fields (kṣetrāṇi sam-ji) is often referred to in the Saṃhitās.¹² Very probably, as suggested by Pischel,¹³ the ploughland was bounded by grass land (perhaps denoted by Khila, Khilya) which in all likelihood would be joint property on the analogy of property elsewhere. There is no trace in Vedic literature of communal property in the sense of ownership by a community of any sort,¹⁴ nor is there mention of communal cultivation. Individual property in land seems also presumed later on. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad¹⁵ the things given as examples of wealth include fields and houses (āyatanāni). The Greek evidence¹⁶ also points to individual ownership. The precise nature of the ownership is of course not determined by the expression ‘individual ownership.’ The legal relationship of the head of a family and its members is nowhere explained, and can only be conjectured (see Pitṛ). Very often a family may have lived together with undivided shares in the land. The rules about the inheritance of landed property do not occur before the Sūtras.¹⁷ In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa¹⁸ the giving of land as a fee to priests is mentioned, but with reproof: land was no doubt even then a very special kind of property, not lightly to be given away or parted with.¹⁹