Class 12th NCERT Topic 2 A changing countryside notes by Vibha Maam | Chapter 2 History Part 1 King, farmers and towns notes | English

Popular participation of kings 

• Ordinary people’s thought and experiences contained in anthologies such as Jataka and the Panchatantra in form of stories 
• The Jataka was written in Pali around the middle of the first millennium CE.
• The ‘Gandatindu Jataka‘ describes the plight of the subjects of a wicked king.
• The story tells the relationship between the king and his subjects.
• King demands high taxes to fill their coffers.

Strategies for Increasing Production

• One strategy to increase production was the shift to plough agriculture by iron -tipped ploughshare.
• In some parts of the Ganga valley production of paddy was dramatically increased by the introduction of transplantation.
• Iron ploughshare was used in semi-arid regions such as part of Punjab and Rajasthan in the 20th century.
• Hilly regions in the north eastern and the central part of the subcontinent practiced hoe agriculture.
• Another strategy to increase agricultural production was to use irrigation through tanks and canals.

Difference in Rural Society

• The benefits of increased production lead to a growing differentiation amongst people engaged in agriculture as it was not equally distributed.
• The term ‘Gahapati‘ was often used in Pali texts to designate the small peasants and landholders.
• The large landholders and village headman exercised control over other cultivators.
• The village headman position was often hereditary.
• Early Tamil ‘Sangam’ literature also mentioned different categories of people living in the villages —

Vellalar  -large landowners

Uzhawar – ploughmen

Adimai      – slaves

Land grants and new rural  Elites

• During the early centuries of the common era, grants of land were made.
• Land grants recorded in inscriptions on the stone but most were on copper plates.
• The record states that have survived are generally grants to religious institutions or to brahmanas.
• Most inscriptions were in Sanskrit while the rest were in local languages such as Tamil or Telugu.

The inscriptions indicate that Prabhavati had access to land which she then granted but common women had no access to lands.

The inscription also gives us an idea about the rural population- these included Brahmanas and peasants.

Land grants is a strategy to extend agriculture to new areas. Others thought it as the indication of weakening political power.

Town and trades

• Major towns were located along routes of communication.
• Some such as Patliputra on riverine routes. Some were near the coast, from where sea routes began, many cities like Mathura were bustling centres of commercial, cultural and political activities.

Urban Population 

• A wide range of artefacts have been recovered from the excavation in these areas. these include fine pottery bowls and dishes with the glossy finish known as’ Northern Black Polished Ware’  probably used by rich people, and ornaments, tools, weapons, vessels figurines made of a wide range of materials- gold, silver, copper, bronze ivory, glass, shell and Terracotta.
• By the 2nd century BCE we found short votive inscriptions in a number of cities. These votives mentioned the name of the donor and his occupation as well.

  Guilds or Shreni probably procure raw materials, regulated production and  marketed the finished goods.