Games and Recreations
Inscriptions of the period refer frequently to utsava and samaja, festivities and merry gatherings. Kings considered it a duty to give practical demonstration of their sympathy with the people by liberality on such occasions. Dancing, singing and instrumental music must have formed an important part of all festivities. Samajas were often held in honour of a deity, e.g., Brahma, Pasupati-Siva, or Sarasvati. A prominent feature of some of these assemblies was a joust of arms in which wrestlers from distant regions took part. Fights between men and between elephants and other animals are mentioned by Aelian, who also describes chariot races with teams of oxen and horses as practised in the imperial city of Pataliputra. The combats of men and animals often led to shedding of blood, and this was perhaps the reason why Asoka issued an edict forbidding certain types of samaja “in which he saw much offence”, while admitting that there were other festal meetings which were excellent in his sight. Patanjali makes mention of dramatic representations by the Saubhikas or Sobhanikas who gave before the eyes of the spectators an actual demonstration of the incidents mentioned in the plays. He also refers to Granthikas who related the fortunes of their subjects from birth to death. Dice play afforded pleasure to many though its baneful effects are frequently alluded to. Buddhist writers refer to games on boards with eight or ten rows of squares from which chess play ultimately evolved. The Jaina Sutrakritanga makes explicit mention of chess (ashtapada), a game that must have become very popular by the time of Bana’s Harsha-charita and Ratnakara’s Haravijaya (ninth century AD).
Condition of the Peasantry
The common people, as distinguished from the intellectual and official aristocracy, seem to have been divided into three main classes, namely, husbandmen, herdsmen and hunters, and traders and artisans. Husbandmen formed the most numerous class of the population. Their lot in the early Maurya period does not appear to have been hard. We are told by Greek observers that they were exempted from fighting and other public services, and devoted the whole of their time to tillage. Men of this class were regarded as public benefactors and were not molested in times of war and conflict. The land remaining unravaged produced heavy crops and supplied the inhabitants with all that was requisite to make life very enjoyable. Husbandmen lived in the country away from towns. They paid into the treasury a share of the produce of the soil besides a land tribute which may be identical with the bali of the epigraphs. In times of emergency they had to pay benevolence. But such imposts were levied on rare occasions and a Saka ruler specially notes the fact that he carried out certain works without resorting to forced labour, extra cess or benevolences. In parts of India the lot of the rural population was probably a little harder. Some idea of the burden borne by the ordinary villagers in these tracts may be gathered from the immunities (parihara) that were granted, according to certain records of the Satavahanas and their successors, to Vatakas and Kshetras, that is, gardens and fields, conferred on privileged individuals or communities by royal personages. Such plots were ” not to be entered by royal officers, not to be touched by any of them, not to be dug for salt, not to be interfered with by the district police”. A fuller list of various kinds of immunity is given in a, Pallava record which says that a garden which belongs to the Brahmanas is to be “free from Kara (extra cess), free from the taking of sweet and sour milk, free from troubles about salt and sugar, free from forced labour, free from the taking of the oxen in succession, free from the taking of grass and wood, free from the taking of vegetables and flowers”.
The rural areas were exposed to danger from flood, fire and locusts. Philosophers are represented by classical writers gathering together at the beginning of the year to forewarn the assembled multitude about droughts and wet weather and about propitious winds and about diseases. Storehouses were set up to provide for emergencies due to pests. The state was enjoined by the Arthasastra writers to show favour in times of distress by distributing seeds and food. We have it on the testimony of Greek writers that the sovereign always made adequate provision against a coming deficiency, and never failed to prepare beforehand what would help in time of need. The duty of clearing the country of all sorts of wild beasts and birds which devoured the seeds sown by husbandmen devolved on herdsmen and hunters who lived in tents or on the hills. By hunting and trapping they freed the country from pests. Implements for agriculturists were made by the artisans, who were not only exempted from taxation but received maintenance from the royal exchequer. In return for these concessions they had to render to the state certain prescribed services.
Trade and Navigation
Kings as well as independent cities depended to a large extent on the tribute paid by the peasantry, but a considerable portion of the state revenues came from traders. In records of the period sulka is mentioned as an important source of royal income along with bali and bhaga. Maurya India had direct relations with Syria, Egypt and other countries of the Hellenistic West. There was a considerable body of foreign residents in the metropolis whose affairs were looked after by a special board of municipal commissioners. These foreigners could not all have been diplomatists. Some of them were in all probability traders. As early as the first century BC contact was established between India and the Roman empire. In the early centuries of the Christian era we have epigraphic as well as literary references to intercourse with China, the Hellenic world, Ceylon and Farther India. These are recorded in the Nagarjunikonda inscriptions and the Milindapanho.
Classical writers bear testimony to the activity and daring of the Indian navigators. One writer narrates how, in the reign of Euergetes II (145-116 BC), an Indian was brought to the king by the coast guard of the Arabian Gulf. They reported that they had found him in a ship alone and half dead. He spoke a language which they could not understand. He was taught the Greek tongue and then he related now he had started from the coast of India but lost his course and reached Egypt alone. All his companions had perished from hunger. If he were restored to his country he would point out to those sent with him the route by sea to India. Eudoxus of Cyzicus was one of the number thus sent. He brought back with him aromatics and precious stones. Another writer relates that a present was given by the king of the Suevi to a pro-consul in Gaul consisting of some Indians who, sailing from India for the purpose of commerce, had been driven by storms into Germany.
Sweet wine and dried figs of the West were eagerly sought by a Maurya king in the third century BC. In the first century AD presents for the king of Broach, which was one of the greatest marts in the east, included costly vessels of silver, singing boys, beautiful maidens for the harem, fine wines, thin clothing and the choicest ointments. The Westerners on their part imported articles of luxury including the fine muslin of the lower Gangetic region. Pliny bears testimony to the vast sums of money sent to India in payment for these commodities. As early as the fourth century BC the municipal authorities of Pataliputra had to constitute a special board to superintend trade and commerce. Its members had charge of weights and measures and saw that products in their seasons were sold with an official stamp. In the first century AD trade between India and the West was greatly facilitated when the pilot Hippalus discovered how to lay his course straight across the ocean.
The splendid river system of northern India rendered transport comparatively easy in the area. The Maurya government built ships and let them out on hire for the transport of merchandise. Communication was more difficult in the Deccan, where vast tracts were without roads and goods had to be carried with difficulty by wagons from Paithan and Tagara to the port of Broach.
