Old NCERT Textbook (RS Sharma): State and Varna Society in the Age of the Buddha | History for UPSC CSE PDF Download

 Page 1


CHAPTER 12 
State and Varna Society in the Age of the Buddha 
 
Material Life 
 
The picture of material life in north India, especially in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, can 
be drawn on the basis of the Pali texts and the Sanskrit Sutra literature in combination with 
archaeological evidence. Archaeologically, the sixth century B.C. marks the beginning of the 
NBP phase. The abbreviation NBP stands for the Northern Black Polished Ware, which was a 
very glossy, shining type of pottery. This pottery was made of very fine fabric and apparently 
served as the tableware of richer people. In association with this pottery are found iron 
implements, especially those meant for crafts and agriculture. This phase also saw the 
beginning of metallic money. The use of burnt bricks and ringwells appeared in the middle of 
the NBP phase, i.e., in the third century B.C. 
 
The NBP phase marked the beginning of the second urbanization in India. The Harappan 
towns finally disappeared in about 1500 B.C. After that, for about 1,000 years, we do not find 
any towns in India. With the appearance of towns in the middle Gangetic basin in the sixth 
century B.C., a second urbanization began in India. Many towns mentioned in the Pali and 
Sanskrit texts, such as Kausambi, Sravasti, Ayodhya, Kapilavastu, Varanasi, Vaisali, Rajgir, 
Pataliputra, and Champa, have been excavated, and in each case, signs of habitation and mud 
structures belonging to the advent of the NBP phase or its middle have been found. 
 
Wooden palisades have been found in Patna, and these possibly belong to Maurya or 
pre-Maurya times. Some of these towns were also fortified. Houses were mostly made of 
mud-brick and wood, which naturally have perished in the moist climate of the middle 
Gangetic basin. Although seven-storied palaces are mentioned in the Pali texts, they have not 
been discovered anywhere. Structures excavated so far are generally unimpressive, but 
together with the other material remains, they indicate a great increase in population when 
compared with the Painted Gray Ware settlements. 
 
Many towns were seats of government, but whatever be the causes of their origin, they 
eventually turned out to be markets and came to be inhabited by artisans and merchants. At 
some places, there was a concentration of artisans. Saddalaputta at Vaisali had 500 potters’ 
shops. Both artisans and merchants were organized into guilds under their respective 
headmen. We hear of 18 guilds of artisans, but only the guilds of smiths, carpenters, leather 
workers, and painters are specified. Both artisans and merchants lived in fixed localities in 
towns. We hear of a vessel's or merchants’ street in Varanasi. Similarly, we hear of the street 
of ivory-workers. Thus, specialization in crafts developed on account of the guild system as 
well as localization. Generally, crafts were hereditary, and the son learned his family trade 
Page 2


CHAPTER 12 
State and Varna Society in the Age of the Buddha 
 
Material Life 
 
The picture of material life in north India, especially in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, can 
be drawn on the basis of the Pali texts and the Sanskrit Sutra literature in combination with 
archaeological evidence. Archaeologically, the sixth century B.C. marks the beginning of the 
NBP phase. The abbreviation NBP stands for the Northern Black Polished Ware, which was a 
very glossy, shining type of pottery. This pottery was made of very fine fabric and apparently 
served as the tableware of richer people. In association with this pottery are found iron 
implements, especially those meant for crafts and agriculture. This phase also saw the 
beginning of metallic money. The use of burnt bricks and ringwells appeared in the middle of 
the NBP phase, i.e., in the third century B.C. 
 
The NBP phase marked the beginning of the second urbanization in India. The Harappan 
towns finally disappeared in about 1500 B.C. After that, for about 1,000 years, we do not find 
any towns in India. With the appearance of towns in the middle Gangetic basin in the sixth 
century B.C., a second urbanization began in India. Many towns mentioned in the Pali and 
Sanskrit texts, such as Kausambi, Sravasti, Ayodhya, Kapilavastu, Varanasi, Vaisali, Rajgir, 
Pataliputra, and Champa, have been excavated, and in each case, signs of habitation and mud 
structures belonging to the advent of the NBP phase or its middle have been found. 
 
Wooden palisades have been found in Patna, and these possibly belong to Maurya or 
pre-Maurya times. Some of these towns were also fortified. Houses were mostly made of 
mud-brick and wood, which naturally have perished in the moist climate of the middle 
Gangetic basin. Although seven-storied palaces are mentioned in the Pali texts, they have not 
been discovered anywhere. Structures excavated so far are generally unimpressive, but 
together with the other material remains, they indicate a great increase in population when 
compared with the Painted Gray Ware settlements. 
 
Many towns were seats of government, but whatever be the causes of their origin, they 
eventually turned out to be markets and came to be inhabited by artisans and merchants. At 
some places, there was a concentration of artisans. Saddalaputta at Vaisali had 500 potters’ 
shops. Both artisans and merchants were organized into guilds under their respective 
headmen. We hear of 18 guilds of artisans, but only the guilds of smiths, carpenters, leather 
workers, and painters are specified. Both artisans and merchants lived in fixed localities in 
towns. We hear of a vessel's or merchants’ street in Varanasi. Similarly, we hear of the street 
of ivory-workers. Thus, specialization in crafts developed on account of the guild system as 
well as localization. Generally, crafts were hereditary, and the son learned his family trade 
from the father.
 
Distribution of Northern Black Polished Ware 
 
The products of crafts were carried over long distances by merchants. We repeatedly hear of 
500 cartloads of goods. These contained fine textile goods, ivory objects, pots, etc. All the 
important cities of the period were situated on river banks and trade routes and connected 
with one another. Sravasti was linked with both Kausambi and Varanasi. The latter was 
considered to be a great centre of trade in the age of the Buddha. The route from Sravasti 
passed eastward and southward through Kapilavastu and Kusinara and came to Vaisali. 
Traders crossed the Ganga near Patna and went to Rajgir. They also went by the Ganga river 
to Champa near modern Bhagalpur. If we believe the Jataka stories, the traders of Kosala and 
Page 3


CHAPTER 12 
State and Varna Society in the Age of the Buddha 
 
Material Life 
 
The picture of material life in north India, especially in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, can 
be drawn on the basis of the Pali texts and the Sanskrit Sutra literature in combination with 
archaeological evidence. Archaeologically, the sixth century B.C. marks the beginning of the 
NBP phase. The abbreviation NBP stands for the Northern Black Polished Ware, which was a 
very glossy, shining type of pottery. This pottery was made of very fine fabric and apparently 
served as the tableware of richer people. In association with this pottery are found iron 
implements, especially those meant for crafts and agriculture. This phase also saw the 
beginning of metallic money. The use of burnt bricks and ringwells appeared in the middle of 
the NBP phase, i.e., in the third century B.C. 
 
The NBP phase marked the beginning of the second urbanization in India. The Harappan 
towns finally disappeared in about 1500 B.C. After that, for about 1,000 years, we do not find 
any towns in India. With the appearance of towns in the middle Gangetic basin in the sixth 
century B.C., a second urbanization began in India. Many towns mentioned in the Pali and 
Sanskrit texts, such as Kausambi, Sravasti, Ayodhya, Kapilavastu, Varanasi, Vaisali, Rajgir, 
Pataliputra, and Champa, have been excavated, and in each case, signs of habitation and mud 
structures belonging to the advent of the NBP phase or its middle have been found. 
 
Wooden palisades have been found in Patna, and these possibly belong to Maurya or 
pre-Maurya times. Some of these towns were also fortified. Houses were mostly made of 
mud-brick and wood, which naturally have perished in the moist climate of the middle 
Gangetic basin. Although seven-storied palaces are mentioned in the Pali texts, they have not 
been discovered anywhere. Structures excavated so far are generally unimpressive, but 
together with the other material remains, they indicate a great increase in population when 
compared with the Painted Gray Ware settlements. 
 
Many towns were seats of government, but whatever be the causes of their origin, they 
eventually turned out to be markets and came to be inhabited by artisans and merchants. At 
some places, there was a concentration of artisans. Saddalaputta at Vaisali had 500 potters’ 
shops. Both artisans and merchants were organized into guilds under their respective 
headmen. We hear of 18 guilds of artisans, but only the guilds of smiths, carpenters, leather 
workers, and painters are specified. Both artisans and merchants lived in fixed localities in 
towns. We hear of a vessel's or merchants’ street in Varanasi. Similarly, we hear of the street 
of ivory-workers. Thus, specialization in crafts developed on account of the guild system as 
well as localization. Generally, crafts were hereditary, and the son learned his family trade 
from the father.
 
Distribution of Northern Black Polished Ware 
 
The products of crafts were carried over long distances by merchants. We repeatedly hear of 
500 cartloads of goods. These contained fine textile goods, ivory objects, pots, etc. All the 
important cities of the period were situated on river banks and trade routes and connected 
with one another. Sravasti was linked with both Kausambi and Varanasi. The latter was 
considered to be a great centre of trade in the age of the Buddha. The route from Sravasti 
passed eastward and southward through Kapilavastu and Kusinara and came to Vaisali. 
Traders crossed the Ganga near Patna and went to Rajgir. They also went by the Ganga river 
to Champa near modern Bhagalpur. If we believe the Jataka stories, the traders of Kosala and 
Magadha went via Mathura as far northward as Taxila. Similarly, from Mathura, they went to 
Ujjain and the Gujarat coast. 
 
Trade was facilitated by the use of money. The terms nishka and satamana in the Vedic texts 
are taken to be names of coins, but coins actually found are not earlier than the sixth century 
B.C. It seems that in Vedic times, exchange was carried on through means of barter, and 
sometimes cattle served the purpose of currency. Coins made of metal appear first in the age 
of Gautama Buddha. The earliest are made largely of silver, though a few coppers also 
appear. They are called punch-marked because pieces of these metals were punched with 
certain marks such as hills, trees, fish, bulls, elephants, crescents, etc. The earliest hoards of 
these coins have been found in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Magadha, although some early 
coins are also found in Taxila. The Pali texts indicate plentiful use of money and show that 
wages and prices were paid in it. The use of money had become so universal that even the 
price of a dead mouse was estimated in it. 
 
It is likely that writing started a couple of centuries before Asoka and contributed to trade. 
The earliest records were probably not written on stone and metal and have therefore 
perished. Writing led to the compilation of not only laws and rituals but also facilitated 
bookkeeping, which was so essential to trade, tax collection, and the keeping of a large 
professional army. The period produced texts dealing with sophisticated measurement 
(Sulvasutras), which presuppose writing and which may have helped the demarcation of 
fields and houses. 
 
Although rural settlements belonging to the NBP phase have not been excavated, we cannot 
think of the beginning of crafts, commerce, and urbanization in the middle Gangetic basin 
without a strong rural base. Princes, priests, artisans, traders, administrators, military 
personnel, and numerous other functionaries could not live in towns unless taxes, tributes, 
and tithes were available in sufficient measure to support them. Non-agriculturists living in 
towns had to be fed by agriculturists living in villages. In return, artisans and traders living in 
towns made tools, cloth, etc., available to the rural folk. We hear of a village trader depositing 
500 ploughs with a town merchant. Obviously, these were iron ploughshares. From the NBP 
phase in Kausambi, iron tools consisting of axes, adzes, knives, razors, nails, sickles, etc., 
have been discovered. A good number of them belong to the earliest layers of the NBP phase 
and were probably meant for the use of the peasants who bought them by paying in cash or 
kind. 
 
Numerous villages are mentioned in the Pali texts, and towns seem to have been situated 
amidst clusters of villages. It seems that the nucleated rural settlement, in which all people 
settled at one place and had their agricultural lands mostly outside the settlement, first 
appeared in the middle Gangetic basin in the age of Gautama Buddha. The Pali texts speak of 
three types of villages. The first category included the typical village inhabited by various 
castes and communities. Its number seems to have been the largest, and it was headed by a 
village headman called bhojaka. The second included suburban villages, which were in the 
nature of craft villages; for instance, a carpenters’ village lay in the vicinity of Varanasi. 
Page 4


CHAPTER 12 
State and Varna Society in the Age of the Buddha 
 
Material Life 
 
The picture of material life in north India, especially in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, can 
be drawn on the basis of the Pali texts and the Sanskrit Sutra literature in combination with 
archaeological evidence. Archaeologically, the sixth century B.C. marks the beginning of the 
NBP phase. The abbreviation NBP stands for the Northern Black Polished Ware, which was a 
very glossy, shining type of pottery. This pottery was made of very fine fabric and apparently 
served as the tableware of richer people. In association with this pottery are found iron 
implements, especially those meant for crafts and agriculture. This phase also saw the 
beginning of metallic money. The use of burnt bricks and ringwells appeared in the middle of 
the NBP phase, i.e., in the third century B.C. 
 
The NBP phase marked the beginning of the second urbanization in India. The Harappan 
towns finally disappeared in about 1500 B.C. After that, for about 1,000 years, we do not find 
any towns in India. With the appearance of towns in the middle Gangetic basin in the sixth 
century B.C., a second urbanization began in India. Many towns mentioned in the Pali and 
Sanskrit texts, such as Kausambi, Sravasti, Ayodhya, Kapilavastu, Varanasi, Vaisali, Rajgir, 
Pataliputra, and Champa, have been excavated, and in each case, signs of habitation and mud 
structures belonging to the advent of the NBP phase or its middle have been found. 
 
Wooden palisades have been found in Patna, and these possibly belong to Maurya or 
pre-Maurya times. Some of these towns were also fortified. Houses were mostly made of 
mud-brick and wood, which naturally have perished in the moist climate of the middle 
Gangetic basin. Although seven-storied palaces are mentioned in the Pali texts, they have not 
been discovered anywhere. Structures excavated so far are generally unimpressive, but 
together with the other material remains, they indicate a great increase in population when 
compared with the Painted Gray Ware settlements. 
 
Many towns were seats of government, but whatever be the causes of their origin, they 
eventually turned out to be markets and came to be inhabited by artisans and merchants. At 
some places, there was a concentration of artisans. Saddalaputta at Vaisali had 500 potters’ 
shops. Both artisans and merchants were organized into guilds under their respective 
headmen. We hear of 18 guilds of artisans, but only the guilds of smiths, carpenters, leather 
workers, and painters are specified. Both artisans and merchants lived in fixed localities in 
towns. We hear of a vessel's or merchants’ street in Varanasi. Similarly, we hear of the street 
of ivory-workers. Thus, specialization in crafts developed on account of the guild system as 
well as localization. Generally, crafts were hereditary, and the son learned his family trade 
from the father.
 
Distribution of Northern Black Polished Ware 
 
The products of crafts were carried over long distances by merchants. We repeatedly hear of 
500 cartloads of goods. These contained fine textile goods, ivory objects, pots, etc. All the 
important cities of the period were situated on river banks and trade routes and connected 
with one another. Sravasti was linked with both Kausambi and Varanasi. The latter was 
considered to be a great centre of trade in the age of the Buddha. The route from Sravasti 
passed eastward and southward through Kapilavastu and Kusinara and came to Vaisali. 
Traders crossed the Ganga near Patna and went to Rajgir. They also went by the Ganga river 
to Champa near modern Bhagalpur. If we believe the Jataka stories, the traders of Kosala and 
Magadha went via Mathura as far northward as Taxila. Similarly, from Mathura, they went to 
Ujjain and the Gujarat coast. 
 
Trade was facilitated by the use of money. The terms nishka and satamana in the Vedic texts 
are taken to be names of coins, but coins actually found are not earlier than the sixth century 
B.C. It seems that in Vedic times, exchange was carried on through means of barter, and 
sometimes cattle served the purpose of currency. Coins made of metal appear first in the age 
of Gautama Buddha. The earliest are made largely of silver, though a few coppers also 
appear. They are called punch-marked because pieces of these metals were punched with 
certain marks such as hills, trees, fish, bulls, elephants, crescents, etc. The earliest hoards of 
these coins have been found in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Magadha, although some early 
coins are also found in Taxila. The Pali texts indicate plentiful use of money and show that 
wages and prices were paid in it. The use of money had become so universal that even the 
price of a dead mouse was estimated in it. 
 
It is likely that writing started a couple of centuries before Asoka and contributed to trade. 
The earliest records were probably not written on stone and metal and have therefore 
perished. Writing led to the compilation of not only laws and rituals but also facilitated 
bookkeeping, which was so essential to trade, tax collection, and the keeping of a large 
professional army. The period produced texts dealing with sophisticated measurement 
(Sulvasutras), which presuppose writing and which may have helped the demarcation of 
fields and houses. 
 
Although rural settlements belonging to the NBP phase have not been excavated, we cannot 
think of the beginning of crafts, commerce, and urbanization in the middle Gangetic basin 
without a strong rural base. Princes, priests, artisans, traders, administrators, military 
personnel, and numerous other functionaries could not live in towns unless taxes, tributes, 
and tithes were available in sufficient measure to support them. Non-agriculturists living in 
towns had to be fed by agriculturists living in villages. In return, artisans and traders living in 
towns made tools, cloth, etc., available to the rural folk. We hear of a village trader depositing 
500 ploughs with a town merchant. Obviously, these were iron ploughshares. From the NBP 
phase in Kausambi, iron tools consisting of axes, adzes, knives, razors, nails, sickles, etc., 
have been discovered. A good number of them belong to the earliest layers of the NBP phase 
and were probably meant for the use of the peasants who bought them by paying in cash or 
kind. 
 
Numerous villages are mentioned in the Pali texts, and towns seem to have been situated 
amidst clusters of villages. It seems that the nucleated rural settlement, in which all people 
settled at one place and had their agricultural lands mostly outside the settlement, first 
appeared in the middle Gangetic basin in the age of Gautama Buddha. The Pali texts speak of 
three types of villages. The first category included the typical village inhabited by various 
castes and communities. Its number seems to have been the largest, and it was headed by a 
village headman called bhojaka. The second included suburban villages, which were in the 
nature of craft villages; for instance, a carpenters’ village lay in the vicinity of Varanasi. 
Obviously, these villages served as markets for the other villages and linked the towns with 
the countryside. The third category consisted of border villages situated on the limits of the 
countryside, which merged into forests. People living in these villages were mainly fowlers 
and hunters and led a backward life. 
 
The village lands were divided into cultivable plots and allotted family-wise. Every family 
cultivated its plots with the help of its members, supplemented by that of agricultural 
labourers. Fields were fenced, and irrigation channels were dug collectively by the peasant 
families under the supervision of the village headman. 
 
The peasants had to pay one-sixth of their produce as tax. Taxes were collected directly by 
royal agents, and generally, there were no intermediate landlords between the peasants on the 
one hand and the state on the other. But some villages were granted to brahmanas and big 
merchants for their enjoyment. We also hear of large plots of land worked with the help of 
slaves and agricultural labourers. Rich peasants were called grihapatis, who were almost the 
same as Vaisyas. 
 
Rice was the staple cereal produced in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in this period. Various 
types of paddy and paddy fields are described in the Pali texts. The use of the term for 
transplantation is found in the Pali and Sanskrit texts of the period, and it seems that 
large-scale paddy transplantation began in the age of the Buddha. Paddy transplantation or 
wet paddy production enormously added to the yield. In addition, the peasants also produced 
barley, pulses, millets, cotton, and sugarcane. Agriculture made great advances because of the 
use of the iron ploughshare and the immense fertility of the alluvial soil in the area between 
Allahabad and Rajmahal. 
 
The place of technology in promoting rural and urban economy needs to be underlined. Iron 
played a crucial role in opening the rain-fed, forested, hard-soil area of the middle Ganga 
basin to clearance, cultivation, and settlement. The smiths knew how to harden iron tools. 
Some tools from Rajghat (Varanasi) show that they were made out of the iron ores obtained 
from Singhbhum and Mayurbhanj. It thus appears that people came to be acquainted with the 
richest iron mines in the country, which was bound to increase the supply of tools for crafts 
and agriculture. 
 
The picture of the economy that emerges from a study of material remains and the Pali texts 
is much different from the rural economy of later Vedic times in western Uttar Pradesh or the 
nature of the economy of a few chalcolithic communities found in some parts of Bihar and 
Uttar Pradesh. We notice for the first time an advanced food-producing economy spread over 
the alluvial soil of the middle Gangetic basin and the beginning of an urban economy in this 
area. It was an economy that provided subsistence not only to direct producers but also to 
many others who were not farmers or artisans. This made possible the collection of taxes and 
the maintenance of armies on a long-term basis and created conditions in which large 
territorial states could be formed and sustained. 
 
Page 5


CHAPTER 12 
State and Varna Society in the Age of the Buddha 
 
Material Life 
 
The picture of material life in north India, especially in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, can 
be drawn on the basis of the Pali texts and the Sanskrit Sutra literature in combination with 
archaeological evidence. Archaeologically, the sixth century B.C. marks the beginning of the 
NBP phase. The abbreviation NBP stands for the Northern Black Polished Ware, which was a 
very glossy, shining type of pottery. This pottery was made of very fine fabric and apparently 
served as the tableware of richer people. In association with this pottery are found iron 
implements, especially those meant for crafts and agriculture. This phase also saw the 
beginning of metallic money. The use of burnt bricks and ringwells appeared in the middle of 
the NBP phase, i.e., in the third century B.C. 
 
The NBP phase marked the beginning of the second urbanization in India. The Harappan 
towns finally disappeared in about 1500 B.C. After that, for about 1,000 years, we do not find 
any towns in India. With the appearance of towns in the middle Gangetic basin in the sixth 
century B.C., a second urbanization began in India. Many towns mentioned in the Pali and 
Sanskrit texts, such as Kausambi, Sravasti, Ayodhya, Kapilavastu, Varanasi, Vaisali, Rajgir, 
Pataliputra, and Champa, have been excavated, and in each case, signs of habitation and mud 
structures belonging to the advent of the NBP phase or its middle have been found. 
 
Wooden palisades have been found in Patna, and these possibly belong to Maurya or 
pre-Maurya times. Some of these towns were also fortified. Houses were mostly made of 
mud-brick and wood, which naturally have perished in the moist climate of the middle 
Gangetic basin. Although seven-storied palaces are mentioned in the Pali texts, they have not 
been discovered anywhere. Structures excavated so far are generally unimpressive, but 
together with the other material remains, they indicate a great increase in population when 
compared with the Painted Gray Ware settlements. 
 
Many towns were seats of government, but whatever be the causes of their origin, they 
eventually turned out to be markets and came to be inhabited by artisans and merchants. At 
some places, there was a concentration of artisans. Saddalaputta at Vaisali had 500 potters’ 
shops. Both artisans and merchants were organized into guilds under their respective 
headmen. We hear of 18 guilds of artisans, but only the guilds of smiths, carpenters, leather 
workers, and painters are specified. Both artisans and merchants lived in fixed localities in 
towns. We hear of a vessel's or merchants’ street in Varanasi. Similarly, we hear of the street 
of ivory-workers. Thus, specialization in crafts developed on account of the guild system as 
well as localization. Generally, crafts were hereditary, and the son learned his family trade 
from the father.
 
Distribution of Northern Black Polished Ware 
 
The products of crafts were carried over long distances by merchants. We repeatedly hear of 
500 cartloads of goods. These contained fine textile goods, ivory objects, pots, etc. All the 
important cities of the period were situated on river banks and trade routes and connected 
with one another. Sravasti was linked with both Kausambi and Varanasi. The latter was 
considered to be a great centre of trade in the age of the Buddha. The route from Sravasti 
passed eastward and southward through Kapilavastu and Kusinara and came to Vaisali. 
Traders crossed the Ganga near Patna and went to Rajgir. They also went by the Ganga river 
to Champa near modern Bhagalpur. If we believe the Jataka stories, the traders of Kosala and 
Magadha went via Mathura as far northward as Taxila. Similarly, from Mathura, they went to 
Ujjain and the Gujarat coast. 
 
Trade was facilitated by the use of money. The terms nishka and satamana in the Vedic texts 
are taken to be names of coins, but coins actually found are not earlier than the sixth century 
B.C. It seems that in Vedic times, exchange was carried on through means of barter, and 
sometimes cattle served the purpose of currency. Coins made of metal appear first in the age 
of Gautama Buddha. The earliest are made largely of silver, though a few coppers also 
appear. They are called punch-marked because pieces of these metals were punched with 
certain marks such as hills, trees, fish, bulls, elephants, crescents, etc. The earliest hoards of 
these coins have been found in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Magadha, although some early 
coins are also found in Taxila. The Pali texts indicate plentiful use of money and show that 
wages and prices were paid in it. The use of money had become so universal that even the 
price of a dead mouse was estimated in it. 
 
It is likely that writing started a couple of centuries before Asoka and contributed to trade. 
The earliest records were probably not written on stone and metal and have therefore 
perished. Writing led to the compilation of not only laws and rituals but also facilitated 
bookkeeping, which was so essential to trade, tax collection, and the keeping of a large 
professional army. The period produced texts dealing with sophisticated measurement 
(Sulvasutras), which presuppose writing and which may have helped the demarcation of 
fields and houses. 
 
Although rural settlements belonging to the NBP phase have not been excavated, we cannot 
think of the beginning of crafts, commerce, and urbanization in the middle Gangetic basin 
without a strong rural base. Princes, priests, artisans, traders, administrators, military 
personnel, and numerous other functionaries could not live in towns unless taxes, tributes, 
and tithes were available in sufficient measure to support them. Non-agriculturists living in 
towns had to be fed by agriculturists living in villages. In return, artisans and traders living in 
towns made tools, cloth, etc., available to the rural folk. We hear of a village trader depositing 
500 ploughs with a town merchant. Obviously, these were iron ploughshares. From the NBP 
phase in Kausambi, iron tools consisting of axes, adzes, knives, razors, nails, sickles, etc., 
have been discovered. A good number of them belong to the earliest layers of the NBP phase 
and were probably meant for the use of the peasants who bought them by paying in cash or 
kind. 
 
Numerous villages are mentioned in the Pali texts, and towns seem to have been situated 
amidst clusters of villages. It seems that the nucleated rural settlement, in which all people 
settled at one place and had their agricultural lands mostly outside the settlement, first 
appeared in the middle Gangetic basin in the age of Gautama Buddha. The Pali texts speak of 
three types of villages. The first category included the typical village inhabited by various 
castes and communities. Its number seems to have been the largest, and it was headed by a 
village headman called bhojaka. The second included suburban villages, which were in the 
nature of craft villages; for instance, a carpenters’ village lay in the vicinity of Varanasi. 
Obviously, these villages served as markets for the other villages and linked the towns with 
the countryside. The third category consisted of border villages situated on the limits of the 
countryside, which merged into forests. People living in these villages were mainly fowlers 
and hunters and led a backward life. 
 
The village lands were divided into cultivable plots and allotted family-wise. Every family 
cultivated its plots with the help of its members, supplemented by that of agricultural 
labourers. Fields were fenced, and irrigation channels were dug collectively by the peasant 
families under the supervision of the village headman. 
 
The peasants had to pay one-sixth of their produce as tax. Taxes were collected directly by 
royal agents, and generally, there were no intermediate landlords between the peasants on the 
one hand and the state on the other. But some villages were granted to brahmanas and big 
merchants for their enjoyment. We also hear of large plots of land worked with the help of 
slaves and agricultural labourers. Rich peasants were called grihapatis, who were almost the 
same as Vaisyas. 
 
Rice was the staple cereal produced in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in this period. Various 
types of paddy and paddy fields are described in the Pali texts. The use of the term for 
transplantation is found in the Pali and Sanskrit texts of the period, and it seems that 
large-scale paddy transplantation began in the age of the Buddha. Paddy transplantation or 
wet paddy production enormously added to the yield. In addition, the peasants also produced 
barley, pulses, millets, cotton, and sugarcane. Agriculture made great advances because of the 
use of the iron ploughshare and the immense fertility of the alluvial soil in the area between 
Allahabad and Rajmahal. 
 
The place of technology in promoting rural and urban economy needs to be underlined. Iron 
played a crucial role in opening the rain-fed, forested, hard-soil area of the middle Ganga 
basin to clearance, cultivation, and settlement. The smiths knew how to harden iron tools. 
Some tools from Rajghat (Varanasi) show that they were made out of the iron ores obtained 
from Singhbhum and Mayurbhanj. It thus appears that people came to be acquainted with the 
richest iron mines in the country, which was bound to increase the supply of tools for crafts 
and agriculture. 
 
The picture of the economy that emerges from a study of material remains and the Pali texts 
is much different from the rural economy of later Vedic times in western Uttar Pradesh or the 
nature of the economy of a few chalcolithic communities found in some parts of Bihar and 
Uttar Pradesh. We notice for the first time an advanced food-producing economy spread over 
the alluvial soil of the middle Gangetic basin and the beginning of an urban economy in this 
area. It was an economy that provided subsistence not only to direct producers but also to 
many others who were not farmers or artisans. This made possible the collection of taxes and 
the maintenance of armies on a long-term basis and created conditions in which large 
territorial states could be formed and sustained. 
 
Administrative System 
 
Although we hear of many states in this period, only Kosala and Magadha emerged as 
powerful. Both of them were ruled by hereditary monarchs belonging to the kshatriya varna. 
The Jatakas, or the stories relating to the previous births of the Buddha, tell us that oppressive 
kings and their chief priests were expelled by the people, and new kings were installed. But 
occasions of expulsion were as rare as those of election. The king enjoyed the highest official 
status and special protection of his person and property. He yielded ground only to great 
religious leaders of the stature of the Buddha. The king was primarily a warlord who led his 
kingdom from victory to victory. This is well illustrated by the careers of Bimbisara and 
Ajatasatru. 
 
The kings ruled with the help of officials, both high and low. Higher officials were called 
mahamatras, and they performed various functions such as those of the minister (mantrin), 
commander (senanayaka), judge, chief accountant, and head of the royal harem. It is likely 
that a class of officers called ayuktas also performed similar functions in some of the states. 
 
The kings carried on administration with the help of the officers. Varsakara of Magadha and 
Dirghacharayana of Kosala were effective and influential ministers. The first succeeded in 
sowing seeds of dissension in the ranks of the Lichchhavis of Vaisali and enabled Ajatasatru 
to conquer the republic. The second rendered help to the king of Kosala. It seems that high 
officers and ministers were largely recruited from the priestly class of the brahmanas. 
Generally, they do not seem to have belonged to the clan of the king. 
 
In both Kosala and Magadha, despite the use of the punch-marked coins made of silver, 
influential brahmanas and setthis were paid by the grant of the revenue of villages. In doing 
so, the king did not have to obtain the consent of the clan, as was the case in later Vedic 
times, but the beneficiaries were granted only revenue; they were not given any 
administrative authority. 
 
The rural administration was in the hands of the village headman. In the beginning, the 
headmen functioned as leaders of the tribal regiments, and so they were called gramini, which 
means the leader of the grama or a tribal military unit. As life became sedentary and plough 
cultivation well-established, tribal contingents settled down to agriculture. The gramini 
therefore was transformed into a village headman in pre-Maurya times. The village headmen 
were known by different titles such as gramabhojaka, gramini, or gramika. Eighty-six 
thousand gramikas are said to have been summoned by Bimbisara. The number may be 
conventional, but it shows that the village headmen enjoyed considerable importance and had 
direct links with the kings. The village headmen assessed and collected the taxes from the 
villagers, and they also maintained law and order in their locality. Sometimes oppressive 
headmen were taken to task by the villagers. 
 
Army and Taxation