(Reprint), New York, 1968, pp. 217-227-
113 Ch. IV, pp. 111-120.
llU
panikaseni
andpuvikaseni
respectively. D.C. Sircar,E.1.3
Voi. XXXV, pp.
6
-7
.115
The Periplus3
sec.lk.
116GZtthasaptaSatZs
(ed.), R. Basak,and sesame (
tila
) were grown. There were even guilds of oil(119
pressers.
lava
or barley was grown in the Godavari valley.It is interesting to note that
yava
occurs as a personal name in aninscription of this period from Amaravati. Apart from these
crops, various kinds of millet must have been reaped in the different
inland districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Cotton, which was already grown in the earlier phase,
acquired greater significance now. That cotton was widely grown and
woven into fabrics is testified to by the
Periplus of the Erythrean
Sea
which refers to large quantities of muslin grown in the region(121
of Masalia. The Black Cotton soils of the inland
taluks
ofGuntur and other districts inland are ideal for growing cotton. In
any case, cotton must have been limited to the adequately drained
outer areas and could in no way have competed with grains for land.
There is not much that we can infer from the available
evidence regarding the rotation of crops, multiple cropping or the
agrarian calendar. According to the
Arthasastra3
whilev^%hi
andsali
seeds were sown at the beginning of the rainy season, the former(122
matured in the rainy season only and the latter in winter.
(123 Although a later text places the harvesting of
salv
in Autumn118
LUders List,
No. 1137.119
Ibid.
120 A. Aiyappan and P.R. Srinivasan,
Madras Government Museum3 Guide
No. 2: Guide to the Buddhist Antiquities3
Madras, i960
, p.32
.121 See. Ch. Ill, p..63, 122 Bk. II, Ch. XXIV.
123
Gathasaptasati3 op. cit.3
VII,89
.h2
winter and autumn are not always clearly distinguishable in Andhra
Pradesh. The sturdier millets were probably grown as
kharif
crops.BdjrcLj
however, a majorvabi
crop apart from rice,was probably sownon the less fertile tracts.
The intensification of agriculture and the resultant
surplus and the regular supply of food-grains appear to have had certain
demographic consequences.^12^ Such an agrarian situation increased
the supply of protein substantially, thereby contributing to the growth
of population. This is not to say that the increase in protein by
itself led to fertility, but it probably helped to reduce the infant
mortality rate and increase the lifespan of the people. The growth
of population in turn necessitated the reclamation of more land.
Increased labour input led to increased productivity. How else
can we explain the proliferation of settlements in the early
historical period?
Agriculture probably remained extensive in some aspects
and the earlier form of semi-sedentary agriculture was practised in
some areas. The dry grass covered
bhanjar
lands of the inlanddistricts and the drier areas on the peripheries of intensively
cultivated areas must have provided excellent grazing for the herds
of nomadic pastoralists. There is an inscription referring to a (125
'great cowherd' . As mentioned before, inscriptions also record
12h
For discussions on this subject, I am grateful to Dr. D.K. Kothari of Patel Institute, Ahmedabad, and Dr. G. Benjamin of the Singapore National University.125 R.P. Chanda,
E.I.,V
o l . XV, No.hi.
donations of cattle, some of which may have been to pastoral
communities. Our evidence permits very little understanding
of any symbiotic relationship between the full-time agriculturalists
and pastoral people. From analogies elsewhere, it is only possible
that such a relationship could have flourished.
k k k kkk k k k k
If the proliferation of agrarian settlements is an
important feature of early Andhra history, then the important
question is the reason for such a phenomenon. There was no
noticeable advance in iron technology. The metal, however, was
widely used. Plough and paddy cultivation came into vogue.
There was a definite advance in irrigation skills. Apart from
food crops,including the different strains of rice, 'cash' crops
such as cotton were also grown, apparently on a significant scale.
The technological developments by themselves could not have
caused the intensification of agriculture, although such potential
was important. The cultivation of more than one crop per year,
perennial and even seasonal irrigation, the intensive ploughing
and manuring of the soil and the diversion of efforts to non-food
crops would have required greater inputs of labour in sedentary
agriculture. So the question of greater inputs of labour for greater
In order to understand the extent of labour input into
rice cultivation, let us examine ethnographic material on a paddy
(17
tract of present-day South India. The numbers of labour days
per acre per year for various tasks are as follows:
manuring 25 ploughing 105* levelling and repairing
8
transplanting12
harvesting21
threshing 15 winnowing 9 processing 39 packaging8
broadcasting 4 irrigating 77* total 323As the tract appears to be least touched by modern
techniques, we can use the analogy. Since these labour accounts
are for one primary and two secondary crops, we may reduce the
days by half. Such a reduction appears reasonable if we assume
that paddy cultivation in early historical times was still in the
incipient stages of its evolution. To feed an average nuclear
126 The following data is derived from Peter J. Claus and Stephen Lintner, 'The Cultural Ecology of a Paddy Tract',
family and then to have surplus for taxes or tribute as well as
bartering for Cither items required in the household, we can put
the essential quantity of land per family at four to six acres.
If the number of labour days required for one acre during the
early historical period was 161.5, then for each household, the
requirement would be 646-969 days.
Although the model of a nuclear family in the analogy
is somewhat out of social character, it is sufficient to give a rough
idea of the labour input. This calculation is taking plough-cultiva-
tion into account. If cultivation was with the hoe, then the
requirement would be far greater, as the preparation of the
field would require not only more hands but more time, so precious (127
at the beginning of the monsoon. In fact, in a situation where
ploughing took almost one third of the labour input, the use of the
plough, as compared with the less efficient hoe, would have made
considerable difference. It is only reasonable to underline its
importance, especially in the wetter areas. If the donation of land
was measured by reference to the plough, as discussed before, then
sedentary agriculture can be associated with the knowledge and use
of the plough.
If the availability of labour is so important, then how
was it procured? We may here recall the hypothesis of Ester Boserup
that increasing population pressures in Europe and Asia led to the
development of more intensive forms of cultivation which, while U6
127 Peter J. Claus and Stephen Lintner, ’The Cultural Ecology...’
increasing the output per unit of land, decreased the output per
(128
unit of labour. We have noticed earlier that during the
Pandukal
period, with increasing numbers of sites as compared withthe preceding centuries, there was a growth of population. Such a
growth could have created a certain amount of pressure on their
practices of extensive agriculture, leading to the adaptation of
intensive form of agriculture. The potential of the land and the
existing technology and the growth of contacts with North India
where such forms of agriculture were practised were the crucial
elements in the process, Such a process led to increased output
per unit of land, permitting sedentary communities. It is, however,
debatable whether it decreased the output per unit of labour as
Boserup postulated. This part of her hypothesis may be applicable
in some regions of Asia and Europe, but in the case of Andhra Pradesh,
the evidence can be interpreted otherwise. As noticed before, the
shift to intensive agriculture was accompanied by paddy cultivation,
as compared to the earlier cultivation of millets. The yield of
rice per unit of land could be twice that of millets.
Hence, in our region with the intensification of agriculture
and the introduction of wet rice, the yield per unit must have
virtually doubled if not trebled. Thus we can postulate not only an
increased output per unit of land but also a balanced (if not increased)
output per unit of labour.
128 Ester Boserup,