Chapter 24 - The Superintendent of Agriculture

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Possessed of the knowledge of the science of agriculture dealing with the plantation of bushes and trees (kṛṣitantragulmavṛkṣāyurvedajña), or assisted by those who are trained in such sciences, the superintendent of agriculture shall in time collect the seeds of all kinds of grains, flowers, fruits, vegetables, bulbous roots, roots, pāllikya (?), fibre-producing plants, and cotton.

He shall employ slaves, labourers, and prisoners(daṇḍapratikartṛ) to sow the seeds on crown lands which have been often and satisfactorily ploughed.

The work of the above men shall not suffer on account of any want in ploughs (karṣaṇayantra) and other necessary instruments or of bullocks. Nor shall there be any delay in procuring to them the assistance of blacksmiths, carpenters, borers (medaka), rope-makers, as well as those who catch snakes, and similar persons.

Any loss due to the above persons shall be punished with a fine equal to the loss.

The quantity of rain that falls in the country of Jāṅgala^[1] is 16 droṇas; half as much more in moist countries (anūpānā); as to the countries which are fit for agriculture (deśavāpānā)—13½ droṇas in the country of Aśmakas;^[2] 23 droṇas in Avantī; and an immense quantity in western countries (aparāntānā),^[3] the borders of the Himālayas, and the countries where water channels are made use of in agriculture (kulyāvāpānā).

When one-third of the requisite quantity of rain falls both during the commencement and closing months of the rainy season^[4] and two-thirds in the middle,^[5] then the rainfall is (considered) very even (suṣumārūpa).

A forecast of such rainfall can be made by observing the position, motion, and pregnancy (garbhādhāna) of Jupiter (Bṛhaspati), the rise and set and motion of Venus, and the natural or unnatural aspect of the sun.

From the sun, the sprouting of the seeds can be inferred; from (the position of) Jupiter, the formation of grains (stambakaritā) can be inferred; and from the movements of Venus, rainfall can be inferred.

Three are the clouds that continuously rain for seven days; eighty are they that pour minute drops; and sixty are they that appear with the sunshine—this is termed rainfall. Where rain, free from wind and unmingled with sunshine, falls so as to render three turns of ploughing possible, there the reaping of a good harvest is certain.^[6]

Hence, i.e. according as the rainfall is more or less, the superintendent shall sow the seeds which require either more or less water.

Śāli (a kind of rice), vrīhi (rice), kodrava (Paspalum scrobiculatum), tila (sesamum), priyaṅgu (panic seeds), dāraka (?), and varaka (Phraseolus tribolus) are to be sown at the commencement (pūrvāvāpa) of the rainy season.

Mudga (Phraselous mungo), māṣa (Phraseolus radiatus), and śaibya (?) are to be sown in the middle of the season.

Kusumbha (safflower), masūra (Ervum hirsutum), kuluttha (Dolichos uniflorus), yava (barley), godhūma (wheat), kalāya (leguminous seeds), atasī (linseed), and sarṣapa (mustard) are to be shown last.

Or seeds may be sown according to the changes of the season.

Fields that are left unsown (vāpātirikta, i.e. owing to the inadequacy of hands) may be brought under cultivation by employing those who cultivate for half the share in the produce (ardhasitikā);^[7] or those who live by their own physical exertion (svavīryopajīvina) may cultivate such fields for ¼th or ⅕th of the produce grown; or they may pay (to the king) as much as they can without entailing any hardship upon themselves (anavasitam bhāga),^[8] with the exception of their own private lands that are difficult to cultivate.

Those who cultivate irrigating by manual labour (hastaprāvartima) shall pay ⅕th of the produce as water rate (udakabhāga); by carrying water on shoulders (skandhaprāvartima),^[9] ¼-th of the produce; by water lifts (srotoyantraprāvartima),^[10] ⅓rd of the produce; and by raising water from rivers, lakes, tanks, and wells (nadīsarastaṭākakūpadghāṭa),^[11] ⅓rd or ¼th of the produce.

The superintendent shall grow wet crops (kedāra), winter crops (haimana), or summer crops (graiṣmika) according to the supply of workmen and water.

Rice crops and the like are the best (jyeṣṭha, i.e. to grow); vegetables (ṣaṇḍa) are of intermediate nature; and sugar-cane crops (ikṣu) are the worst (pratyavara, i.e. very difficult to grow), for they are subject to various evils and require much care and expenditure to reap.

Lands that are beaten by foam (phenāghāta, i.e. banks of rivers, etc.) are suitable for growing vallīphala (pumpkin, gourd and the like); lands that are frequently overflown by water (parivāhānta) for long pepper, grapes (mṛdvikā), and sugar-cane; the vicinity of wells for vegetables and roots; low grounds (haraṇīparyanatā)^[12] for green crops; and marginal furrows between any two rows of crops are suitable for the plantation of fragrant plants, medicinal herbs, cascus roots (uśīnara), hīra (?), beraka (?), and piṇḍāluka (lac), and the like.

Such medicinal herbs as grow in marshy grounds are to be grown not only in grounds suitable for them, but also in pots (sthālyā).

The seeds of grains are to be exposed to mist and heat (tuṣārapāyanamuṣṇaṃ ca) for seven nights; the seeds of kośī^[13] are treated similarly for three nights; the seeds of sugar-cane and the like (kāṇḍabījānā) are plastered at the cut end with the mixture of honey, clarified butter, the fat of hogs, and cow-dung; the seeds of bulbous roots (kanda) with honey and clarified butter; cotton seeds (asthibīja) with cow-dung; and water pits at the root of trees are to be burnt and manured with the bones and dung of cows on proper occasions.

The sprouts of seeds, when grown, are to be manured with a fresh haul of minute fishes and irrigated with the milk of snuhi (Euphorbia antiquorum).

Where there is the smoke caused by burning the essence of cotton seeds and the slough of a snake, there snakes will not stay.^[14]

Always while sowing seeds, a handful of seeds bathed in water with a piece of gold shall be sown first, and the following mantra recited:

“Prajāpataye Kāśyapāya devāya namah Sadā

Sītā me ṛdhyatām devī bījeṣu ca dhaneṣu ca.”

“Salutation to God Prajāpathi Kāśyapa. Agriculture may always flourish and the goddess (may reside) in seeds and wealth.”^[15]

Provisions shall be supplied to watchmen, gardens, fences and cows, slaves and labourers, in proportion to the amount of work done by them.

They shall be paid a paṇa and a quarter per mensem. Artisans shall be provided with wages and provision in proportion to the amount of work done by them.

Those that are learned in Vedas and those that are engaged in making penance, may take from the fields ripe flowers and fruits for the purpose of worshipping their gods, and rice and barley for the purpose of performing āgrayaṇa, a sacrificial performance at the commencement of harvest season, also those who live by gleaning grains in fields, may gather grains where grains had been accumulated and removed from.

Grains and other crops shall be collected as often as they are harvested. No wise man shall leave anything in the fields, not even chaff. Crops, when reaped, shall be heaped up in high piles or in the form of turrets. The piles of crops shall not be kept close, nor shall their tops be small or low. The threshing floors of different fields shall be situated close to each other.^[16] Workmen in the fields shall always have water but no fire.^[17]

[Thus ends Chapter XXIV, “The Superintendent of Agriculture,” in Book II, “The Duties of Government Superintendents” of the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya. End of the forty-fifth chapter from the beginning.]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

In desert countries.—Com.

[2]:

The countries of Mahāraṣṭra.—Com.

[3]:

The countries of Koṅkaṇa.—Com.

[4]:

The months of Śrāvaṇa and Kārtika.—Com.

[5]:

Proṣṭhapada and Āsvayuja.—Com.

[6]:

In śloka-metre.

[7]:

Yājñyavalkya seems to have paraphrased the same word when in the place of the same word in 11, 49, he used “cowherds,” vintners, washermen, etc.

[8]:

When they do not cultivate as agreed upon, they may pay as much as they can without, etc.—Com.

[9]:

Water lifts worked by bullocks.—Com.

[10]:

Water supplied by channels (kulya).—Com.

[11]:

The commentator quotes in this connection a couplet of far-reaching political significance: “Those who are well versed in the Śāstras admit that the king is the owner of both land and water, and that the people can exercise their right of ownership over all other things excepting these two.”

[12]:

Moist beds of lakes.—Com.

[13]:

Such as mudga and māsha, etc.—Com.

[14]:

In śloka-metre.

[15]:

The mantra is not commented upon by the commentator, Bhattasvami.

[16]:

So as to help each other in time of danger.

[17]:

In śloka-metre.