Social and Rural Economy of Northern India- Cir. 600 B.C.-200 A.D. Vol-1 (An Old and Rare Book)

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Though sufficient work has been done in the field of Indology to dispel the antiquated notion that ancient Indians wandered only in spiritual quest and knew no economic enterprise worth the name, the rebuilding of a consistent and comprehensive economic history of India still awaits completion. A cursory chapter by Rhys Davids in his Buddhist India, Mrs. Rhys Davids' erudite collections on "Early Eco- nomic Conditions in Northern India" in J. R. A. S. 1901, Richard Fick's masterly classic "Die sociale Gliederung im Nordostlichen Indien zu Buddhas Zeit" written a social rather than economic standpoint, were till lately the sole conspicuous works in the field; and even these were written exclusively on Buddhist sources. The authors moreover antedated their materials, as revealed by modern research. The plausible effort of N. C. Banerji stops with the first volume of the "Economic Life and Progress in ancient India" ending before the period of the Maurya Empire. This volume, which is a collection of valuable data, together with J. N. Samaddar's small series of Ashutosh Lectures on Economic Condition of Ancient India just offer the starting point for a more systematic and thorough treatment. The chief drawback of the latter is that it makes no endeavour to collate the evidences gathered from different source materials and is at best a good analysis of them. There are excellent monographs like Ghoshal's "Hindu Revenue System" (his "Agrarian System in Ancient India" is only a summary of his Revenue System with a short lecture added on the legal ownership of land) and Mukerji's "Indian Shipping". But such treatises again are limited in their scope and the former does not fully exploit the Pali literature; nor has any appreciable work as yet been done to bring the prodigious labours of Maine and Baden Powell into line with modern discoveries. on the agrarian system.

The purpose of this thesis is to attempt, not too succinctly or piecemeal. an economic survey of Northern India between the days of Buddha and Kaniska's successors. i.e., cir. 600 B.C.-200 A.D. Between the supremacy of Magadha under Bimbisara and the decline of the Kusana Empire after Vasudeva I, the political history of Northern India has been recons- tructed into a workable framework intervening two big gaps still unconquered by labours of research. The economic development of this age, summarily but not too plausibly called the Buddhist age, is full of interest and organised effort and may be taken up with some confidence. The Jatakas and the Pali canons, after the period of their development has been ascertained, though within widely stretched limits, require to be studied with reference to the copious contemporary literature that have come down to us in the shape of the epics, legal codes, commentaries, inscriptions, notes of foreigners. etc. This is a desideratum in the field of economic history of ancient India.