Economy of guptas

• Agricultural crops constituted the main resources which the society produced
and that the major part of the revenue of the state also came from
agriculture.
• This of course does not mean that agriculture was the only occupation of
the people or that people lived only in villages. There were other occupations
like commerce and production of crafts which had become specialized
occupations and in which different social groups were engaged.
•

• Various types of land are mentioned in the inscriptions; land under

cultivation was usually called Kshetra.
• Lands not under cultivation were variously called as Khila, Aprahata, etc.,
and inscriptions give the impression that uncultivated land was being
regularly brought under cultivation
 Types of land
• Kshetra ------ cultivable land
• Khila----------- waste land

• Aparahata --------- jungle land or waste land

• Vasti -------------- habitable land
• Gapata saraha--------- pasture land
• Classification of land according to soil, fertility and the use to which it was put was
known.
• In some areas Nivartana was the term used for a measuring of land whereas in the
inscriptions of Bengal terms like Kulyavapa and Dronavapa are used.

• Major categories of crops—cereals like barley, wheat and paddy,

• Different varieties of pulses, grams and vegetables as well as cash crops like cotton
and sugarcane.
 System of irrigation
• The concern of the society with agricultural production is also reflected in the
importance given to irrigation.
• Sudarsana reservoir (Tadaga) in Saurashtra in Gujarat.
• Originally built in the Maurya period, this reservoir was thoroughly repaired when it
was extensively damaged in the time of Mahakshatrapa Rudradaman (middle of the
second century A.D.).
• It was again severely damaged in the time of Skandagupta. Parnadatta, his newly
appointed governor of Saurashtra and Parnadatta’s son Chakrapalita, undertook the
repair of the reservoir this time. An
• Another method for irrigation was to draw water from wells and supply the water to the fields
through carefully prepared channels.
• A mechanism. Possibly known before the Gupta period, was to tie a number of pots to a chain:
the chain with the pots reached down to the water of the hull, and by making the chain and the
pots rotate, it was ensured that the pots would continuously fill with water and empty it.
• . This mechanism was known as ghati-yantra as ghati was the name used for a pot.
• This type of mechanism also came to be known as araghatta.
• . In the Harshacharita of Banabhatta, written in the seventh century A.D. there is a very
charming description of how cultivated fields, producing crops like sugarcane, were being
irrigated with the help of ghati-yantra. I
• In regions like Bengal, rainwater was collected in ponds and other types of
reservoirs; in peninsular India, tank irrigation became gradually the norm.
• There were thus different systems of irrigation and the role of the state was
only marginal in providing irrigation facilities to fanners.
• The farmers of course depended mainly on rainfall and the importance of
rainfall is underlined not only in the Arthasastra of Kautilya but also in the
texts written in the Gupta period.
• 1). Water reservoir
• 2). Ghati yantar
• 3). Wells
• 4). Pond and tank
• 5). Rainfall
 Land grants
• Apart from the state and individual cultivators, Brahmins, Buddhists and Jain sanghas brought
waste lands under cultivation when they were donated to them as religious endowments.
• King extensively made land grants to Brahmins priests and Administrative officers in place of
Cash salary.
• The number of persons who received land but did not cultivate themselves went on increasing.
The virtues of giving land were highly praised .
• All this led to the appearance, in society, of a class of people who enjoyed superior rights over
land and by virtue of these rights and by belonging to higher varnas had high economic and
social status.
•
 Condition of peasants
• Condition of ordinary cultivators may be considered to have been very bad.
• It is believed by some historians that because of the practice of land grants, the peasant
population as a whole were reduced to a very low position in society.
• It was the ordinary cultivators, known by various terms such as Krishibala, Karshaka or Kinass
who had low economic and social status.
• Among the actual cultivators there were those who filled the lands of others and received only a
share of the produce.
• There were also slaves who worked on the fields of their masters. Even domestic female slaves
were cruelly exploited, and a text like the Kamasutra, which was probably written in the Gupta
period tells us how much hardship they had to go through at the hands of their masters.
• The number of taxes imposed by the state on the producers also increased in
this period.
• Further, the practice of imposing vishti or unpaid labour was also in vogue,
although we do not know for certain how much essential it was for
agricultural production.
• All in all, the condition of the ordinary cultivators seems to have become
worse than in the earlier periods
 Crafts :-Metallurgy
•
• The expansion of enterprises based on metal, particularly iron, is a distinguishing
characteristic of artisan activities.
• The inscribed iron pillar at Mehrauli in Delhi, which has remained rust-free since
the fifth century, is unquestionably the most well-known illustration of the
superiority of iron craftsmanship.
• Blacksmiths are mentioned in epigraphic inscription to the karmakara and lohakara.
• The enormous copper statue of Buddha from Sultanganj is an illustration of the
high calibre of copper casting practised during the Gupta era.
Buddha statue from sultanganj
• Amarasimha, Varahamihira and Kalidasa make frequent mention of the
existence of mines.
• The rich deposits of iron ore from Bihar and copper from Rajasthan were
mined extensively during this period.
• The list of metals used apart from iron were gold, copper, tin, lead, brass,
bronze, bell-metal, mica, manganese, antimony,
• Blacksmiths were next only to agriculturists in importance in the society.
Metal was used for the manufacture of various domestic implements, utensils
and weapons.
• The improvement in the ploughshare, with the discovery of iron, for deep
ploughing and for increasing cultivation happened during this period.
 Pottery and Textiles
• Under the Gupta economy, the art of the potter (kumbhakara) was very closely linked to the
people’s way of life.
• The Frequent mention and display of textiles shown in literature and on sculptures provide ample
evidence of this craft’s thriving state.
• An important source of the economy of the Gupta period, Amarakosha refers to the specifics of
silk weaving.
• The Mandasore inscriptions from 436 and 473 AD provide the most powerful evidence of the
silk industry.
• It mentions a guild of silk weavers who were originally from Gujarat but later moved to Dasapura,
or contemporary Mandasore.
• Inscriptions also include information on the carpenter (sutradhara or varddhaki).
 Oil Production
•
• In the Gupta economy, oil production was another vital business.
• We can tell it was a thriving industry because oilmen created guilds, which provides
evidence of its existence.
• There was a well-known guild of oilmen with a leader by the name of Jivanta in the
city of Indrapura during the reign of Skandagupta.
• The distillers’ enterprises are also partially illuminated by literary texts and
inscriptions.
• The Vishnusena charter reveals that the distiller (kallara) was liable to tax (AD 592).
 Trade and Commerce
• The contribution of traders to the soundness of the Gupta economy is quite
impressive.
Two distinctive types of traders called sresti and sarthavaha existed.
• Sresti was usually settled at a particular place and enjoyed an eminent
position by virtue of his wealth and influence in the commercial life and
administration of the place.
• The sarthavaha was a caravan trader who carried his goods to different
places for profitable sale.
• Trade items ranged from products for daily use to valuable and luxury
goods.
• They included pepper, sandalwood, elephants, horses, gold, copper, iron
and mica.
 Guild
•
• Guild is a society or other organisation of people with common interests or
an association of merchants.
• The abundant inscriptions and seals mentioning artisans, merchants and
guilds are indicative of the thriving crafts and trade.
• There are several references in several sources to artisans, traders and occupational
groups in the guilds.
• Guilds continued as the major institution in the manufacture of goods and in
commercial enterprise.
• They remained virtually autonomous in their internal organisation, and the
government respected their laws.
• These laws were generally drafted by a larger body, the corporation of guilds, of
which each guild was a member.
• The inscription also records that the chief of the guilds played an important
role in the district-level administrative bodies.
•
• The guilds also acted as banks.
• Usury (the lending of money at an exorbitant rate of interest) was in practice
during the Gupta period.
• The detailed discussion in the sources of that period indicates that money
was used, borrowed and loaned for profit.
 Ports
• There were many ports that facilitated trade in the western coast of India
such as Calliena (Kalyan), Chaul port in ruin sixty kilometres south of
Mumbai, and the markets of Male (Malabar), Mangarouth (Mangalore),
.Salopatana, Nalopatana and Pandopatana on the Malabar coast.
• Fahien refers to Tamralipti in Bengal as an important centre of trade on the
eastern coast.
• These ports and towns were connected with those of Persia, Arabia and
Byzantium on the one hand and Sri Lanka, China and Southeast Asia on the
other.
• Fahien describes the perils of the sea route between India and China. The
goods traded from India were rare gems, pearls, fine textiles and aromatics.
Indians bought silk and other articles from China.