question_answer

Explain the system of land grants and trade from C. 600 BCE to 600 CE.

Or

Explain any four sources to reconstruct the history of Mauryas. Examine the system of Mauryan administration.

Answer:

(1) The system of land grants (C. 600 BCE to CE 600):

(i) We foud grants of land and were recorded in inscriptions from the early centuries of the Common Era. Some of these inscriptions were found on stone, but most were on copper plates.

(ii) The land grants were given to religious institutions or to Brahmanas.

(iii) Women were not supposed to have independent access to resources such as land. However, the inscription clearly indicates that Prabhavati had access to land.

(iv) Some scholars say, that land grants were indicative of weakening political power, as kings were losing control over their Samantas.

(2) The system of trade 9C. 600 BCE to CE 600):

(i) The land and river router crisscrossed. The subcontinent and extended in different directions from the 6t century BCE.

(ii) These routes were traversed by the peddlers who travelled on foot. Whereas, merchants travelled with caravans of bullock carts and pack-animals.

(iii) There were seafarers also. There ventures were full of risks but highly profitable. Merchants designated as masattuwan in Tamil and Sethi?s and Satthava?s has in Praknit were very rich.

(iv) There was a comprehensive range of goods, which were carried from one place to another such as salt, stone, timber, spices and pepper, medicinal plants etc. All these items were transported across the Arabian sea to the Mediterranean.

Or

Four sources to reconstruct the history of Mauryas are:

- Sculptures

- Valuable contemporary works, such as account of Megasthenes

- Arthashastra, parts of which are probably composed by Kautilya or chanakya.

- Inscriptions of Ashoka on rocks and pillars are most valuable sources.

Mauryan Administration: There were five major political centres in the empire ? The capital Patliputra and the provincial centres of Taxila, Ujjayini, Tosalt & suvarnagiri, all mentioned in Asokan inscriptions. The regions included within the empire were just too diverse. Imagine the contract between the hilly terrain of Afganistan and the coast of Orissa. It is likely that administrative control was strongest in the areas around the capital and the provincial centres. These centres were carefully chosen, both Taxila and Ujjayini being situated on important long distance trade routes, while Suvarngiri was possible important for tapping the gold mines of Karnataka.