To what extent were agricultural practices transformed in the period under consideration?

The demand for taxes by the kings had considerably increased during the period 600 BCE to 600 A.D. To fulfil this demand for more taxes, the farmers started finding all new means to increase the production of their crops. Consequently many changes took place in the means and methods of agriculture:

(i) Prevalence of Ploughs: One method that helped increasing the production was the popularity of plough. The use of a plough had started in the 6th century BCE in the valleys of Ganga and kaveri. The plough with an iron tip was used in areas which had an ample rainfall. It was used in fertile land. It resulted in increasing the production of paddy. No doubt the farmers had to work a lot to achieve this target.

(ii) Use of Spade: Though plough helped in increasing the production yet its use was limited to only some areas. In Punjab and Rajasthan, which has less rainfall, the plough was used in the early period of the 20th century. Those farmers who lived in the north-east and mid-mountainous regions, used spade to dig fields. The spade was quite useful in such areas.

(iii) Irrigation: Another method to increase the production was irrigation. For this purpose, the wells, the tanks and the canals were used. These were developed by the people individually. At some places, the farmers also joined hands and worked collectively to develop these means of irrigation. However the kings and other dominating elite people developed wells, ponds and canals individually for irrigation of land.

Impact of new Methods of Agriculture: The production in the fields increased considerably because of these modern techniques but many differences also emerged among the people because of these new methods. In Buddhist stories, we find a mention of labourers, small farmers and big zamindars. It shows diverse social classes and the postition of different people in the society. In Pali language, the word for small farmers and zamindars was ‘Grihapati’. The big zamindars and village cheifs were considered very powerful and strong. They often had a control over small farmers. The post of village chief was often hereditary. 

The texts of Tamil Sangam also mention different classes of people in the villages. For example, there were Vellalars or big landlords, Halwaha or Ulwar and Das Animai. It is possible that these diverse positions were because of differences in the ownership of land, labour and new technology. In such a situation, the ownership of land became quite important.