Question

The Harshacharita is a biography of Harshavardhana, the ruler of Kanauj (see Map 3), composed in Sanskrit by his court poet, Banabhatta (c. seventh century CE). This is an excerpt from the text, an extremely rare representation of life in a settlement on the outskirts of a forest in the Vindhyas: The outskirts being for the most part forest, many parcels of rice-land, threshing ground and arable land were being apportioned by small farmers … it was mainly spade culture … owing to the difficulty of ploughing the sparsely scattered fields covered with grass, with their few clear spaces, their black soil stiff as black iron … There were people moving along with bundles of bark … countless sacks of plucked flowers, … loads of flax and hemp bundles, quantities of honey, peacocks’ tail feathers, wreaths of wax, logs, and grass. Village wives hastened en route for neighbouring villages, all intent on thoughts of sale and bearing on their heads baskets filled with various gathered forest fruits.

How would you classify the people described in the text in terms of their occupations?

Answer 1

1. Agriculturists / Cultivators (Small Farmers)
   1. Activities: They managed parcels of rice land, arable land, and threshing grounds.
   2. Technology: They practised “spade culture” manually using spades rather than cattle-driven ploughs. This was due to the tough, iron-stiff black soil and grass-covered fields.
2. Forest Gatherers / Resource Collectors
   1. Activities: They collected natural raw materials directly from the Vindhya forests for survival and trade.
   2. Items Gathered: They collected bundles of bark, logs, grass, flax, hemp, sacks of plucked flowers, honey, wreaths of wax, and decorative peacocks' tail feathers.
3. Petty Traders / Local Sellers (Village Wives)
   1. Activities: They acted as local vendors travelling between neighbouring settlements to sell goods.
   2. Items Sold: They carried baskets filled with gathered forest fruits on their heads, showing an active, local barter or market economy between close villages.