Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c20.6

c20.6

In Malabar the knowledge of husbandry seems as ancient as their History. It is the favourite employment of the inhabitants. It is endeared to them by their mode of life, and the property which they possess in the soil. It is a theme for their writers; it is a subject on which they delight to converse, and with which all ranks profess to be acquainted. They have provided a code of rules for good husbandry. A system is laid down for the proper cultivation of the soil. The rights of the proprietor and of the mere occupier of land are distinguished and explained. The Husbandman is protected. The proprietor is secured against bad management, while the cultivator or improver is encouraged. There is a curious analogy between their agricultural Code and that of the Scandinavians. The customs of both people gave a legal sanction to the privileges of the cultivator. The duties of the landlord and the tenant are defined; those of the Master and servant.² The Bondi and the Chirmir were the Husbandmen; they were the slaves of the soil, but yet under a legal protection. The price of labour was paid in Victual: this practice was anciently in Malabar, and is still in many instances followed. The farming leases contained arrangements for the management of the land. Another unfortunate resemblance consisted in obliging the peasants and artisans to work at low rates for Government.³ One of the most remarkable of the rites of Hindoo worship probably owes its origin to their respect for agriculture. Their sacred Bulls, and their superstitious regard for the cow, have their foundation in the great service they rendered to husbandry. Under all these circumstances of favour and encouragement, we should expect that it would be the study of this people to improve the art of cultivating the ground, and that they would in such a length of time have discovered the most convenient and effectual instruments for the purpose. This however has been strenuously denied by those who wish to accommodate the ideas and habits of European Husbandry to that of Malabar. They reproach the Hindoos for employing rude and imperfect instruments. This censure cannot apply equally to every part of India where various instruments are in use, and of different construction. The plough is the first and most important machine in agriculture. In Guzerat it is a light and neat instrument. It has no Coulter but has a sheathing of iron: the furrows of the Husbandman are as straight as a line, and of sufficient depth to produce the most abundant crops. This is the real and only useful test of good farming.