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1. Economic Progress in
Mauryan Period
Dr. Virag Sontakke
Assistant Professor
Center for Advanced Studies
Department of A.I.H.C. & Archaeology,
Banaras Hindu University

2. Economic Progress
in Mauryan Period

3. Introduction
• In Mauryan period is significant in ancient Indian history.
• Its give stable period for more than a century ranging from c 325 to 187 BCE.
• Large empire was supported by the large and permanent Army as well as the large
bureaucratic administrative system.
• These two things naturally necessitated the availability of a huge amount of
resources.
• Various types of resources were utilised in this period.
• Maurya's adopt the economic policy of direct state control over the economic
activities of the state.
• Archaeological Excavations provided material remains implies a significantly
strong technological base.

4. Genealogy of Mauryan Period
• 322–298 BCE Chandragupta
• 298–272 BCE Bindusara
• 268–232 BCE Ashoka
• 232–224 BCE Dasharatha
• 224–215 BCE Samprati
• 215–202 BCE Shalishuka
• 202–195 BCE Devavarman
• 195–187 BCE Shatadhanvan
• 187–180 BCE Brihadratha

6. Changes in Mauyan period
1. Spread of writing
2. Large number of coins
3. Expansions of States
4. Growth of urban centers
5. Expansion of agricultural land
6. Division of Classed based society
7. Foreign influences
8. Exchange of ideas
9. Period of Religious movements

10. Sources
1. Greek writers
2. Arthshashtra
3. Buddhists Literature
4. Jain Literature
5. Archaeological Sources
a) Excavations
b) Coins
c) Inscriptions
d) Ceramics

12. Historical References
1. Arrians: It is not possible the exact number of cities because there are too many.
2. Megasthenes: Large number of population living in the cities.
• Megasthenese: mentioned that during this period, the society was comprising seven
castes,
1. Philosophers,
2. Farmers,
3. Soldiers,
4. Herdsmen,
5. Artisans,
6. Magistrates, and
7. Councillors

13. Mauryan
Economic
functionaries
Economy
Art and
Crafts
Agriculture
Animal
Husbandry
Internal and
External
Trades
Improvement
of
Technology
Urban
Economy
and
Growth of
cities
Resource
utilization
Trade and
Commerce

14. Agriculture Agriculture &
Animal Rearing
Irrigation
Occupy new
land
Exemption of
Taxes
Free seeds and
supply

15. Agriculture and Animal rearing
• Widespread use of Iron
• During excavations different types of iron tools like socketed axes, sickles and
possibly ploughshares, have been found.
• Megasthenes maintains that the peasants were left untouched during war.
• According to the Arthasastra, private individuals were encouraged to carry on
irrigation works.

16. Land Types
• Seven types of land under the king’s prerogative.
• a) the fallow land,
• b) the newly settled janapada,
• c) the treasures,
• d) the mines and mining products,
• e) the pasture land,
• f) the irrigation project and
• g) the forest land.
• Besides the royal ownership of land we get a reference from Kautilya to the
private ownership of land. This is pranastasvamikam. If the owner of this type
land happened to be absent for a long time he might loose his ownership of the

17. Agriculture (State Farm)
• The Sītādhyakṣa mentioned in the Arthaśāstra is known to have supervised
the entire task of agricultural production of the kingdom.
• The word Sītā signified the crown land.
• He was to have the requisite knowledge in the Vṛkṣāyurveda.
• He was also to collect the seeds of fruits, creepers, cereals and cash crop
like cotton.
• He was to supply the cattle, the plough and also to employ the agricultural
labourer for facilitating the tasks of cultivation.
• Thus the royal control was exercised over agricultural economy.

18. Janapadaniveśa
• Maurya state created ‘agrarian settlements’ (Janapadaniveśa) mainly with Śūdra
cultivators.
• The Janapada was created in that area which either had no population or was
deserted.
• The Janapada was to be settled with people from a crowded area within the kingdom
or by bringing people from outside.
• Newly created Janapada provide some benefits
a. Exemption or decrease of revenue;
b. The distribution of agricultural implements like seeds, cattle, money etc among
the peasants
c. On the condition that they would return those according to their convenience.
• This policy was similar to agricultural loan.
• Possibly this policy was thought of in order to attract people to a new Janapada.

19. Agricultural Labourers
• Different categories of people were employed agricultural production.
• Arthaśāstra: slaves, paid labourers and unable to repay their fine were employed by the
Sītādhyakṣa in the works of cultivation in the Sita land.
• Two categories of cultivators in the Sita land.
a) Farmers cultivate the Sita land with their own agricultural implements.
b) Peasants who were provided with agricultural implements
• The peasants of the first category were entitled to get half of the produce.
• The labourers of the second category were given one-fourth or one-fifth part of the
produce.
• They depended only on their own labour and therefore were called svavīryopojīvi.

20. Irrigation
• Agrarian development in Mauryan period was due to irrigation.
• The Arthasastra refers to different types of irrigational works.
• Megasthenes: Many officers employed to measured the land and distributions of
water.
• In these areas a regular supply of water could ensure a normal yield of crops.
• Pushyagupta, one of the governors of Chandragupta Maurya, is said to have built a
dam for creating a reservoir of water near Girnar in Saurashtra.
• This was known as Sudarshana tadaga (water tank).
• The task of irrigation was entrusted to the Agoranomois, high-ranking officers.
• The archaeological excavations at Besnagar show that a large irrigation channel (185′
x 7′ x 5′) was constructed at Besnagar. It is dated to c.300 BCE.
• Those who took up new irrigation works by using tanks etc were given the five-year
tax exemption.

21. Land Revenue Organisation
•Mauryan taxation system was significant in ancient Indian History
•Land Revenue was essential source of income
•Land revenue collection was efficiently organised to get maximum
collection.
•The officer in charge of this was the Samsharta.
•The Sannidhata was the chief custodian of the State treasury.
• Revenue was also collected in kind.

22. Main Tax System
• Peasants paid 1/4th of the produce in tax.
• Land tax (bhaga) was the main item of revenue.
• According to the texts, it was levied at the rate of 1/6th of the produce.
• In the Mauyan period it was quite high at the rate of 1/4th of the
produce.
• Asoka says that when he visited Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha,
he exempted the village from the payment of bali and reduced the
payment of bhaga to 1/8.
• Even Asoka's great respect for the Buddha did not prompt the emperor to
exempt the village totally from the payment of taxes.

23. Other Taxes
• The Mauryas also introduced some new taxes.
• The peasants paid a tax called Pindakara, which was assessed on groups of villages.
• The exact nature of Hiranya is also not known, but it was probably a tax paid in
cash because hiranya literally means gold.
• Bali, the traditionally known levy from the Vedic times, continued under the
Mauryas,
• Levy of Pranaya which literally meant a gift of affection. This is a tax first
mentioned by Panini but elaborated upon for the first time in the Arthasastra.
• It amounted to 1/3rd or 1/4th of the produce according to the nature of the soil.
• The rate of water-tax depended on how the water for irrigation was taken.
• Further, in times of emergency the cultivators could be forced to raise two crops.

24. Land Taxes
Bali
Kar
Hiranya
Bhag
Other Taxes
Shulk
Sita
Utsang
Pindkar
Oupayanik
Pashrv
Koshteryak
Mines, Dand,

25. ART
AND
CRAFT

26. 1. COINS
2. METAL
3. BEADS
4. IVORY
5. SHELL
6. TERRA
COTA
7. GLASS
8. BRICKS
9. CARPE
NTORS
10. SMITHS

27. Craft Production
• Megasthenes also mentions the artisans as one of the seven castes/classes he noticed
during his stay in India.
• Primarily in north India craft production was organised on guild (sreni) lines.
• Reference of number of artisan groups guilds organised in different towns,
inhabiting particular sections of them.
• These guilds generally worked and lived together in a closely knit relationship.
• Craft was necessarily hereditary and in most cases specialization was handed down
from father to son.
• These guilds became very powerful in the post-Mauryan period as is evident from a
number of inscriptions.

28. The well-known Guilds
v Metallurgists of various kinds,
v Carpenters,
v Potters,
v Leatherworks
v Painters,
v Textile workers,
v Northern Black Polished Ware is a good example of craft activities. It became a
specialized kind of pottery-making craft and its availability outside the Ganges
Valley is limited. his indicates that it was a technique developed in this-part of the
country and was perhaps dependent on a particular type of clay available here.

32. NBPW:
Northern Black Polished Ware

37. Organisation of Trade
• The Jataka stories have frequent references to caravan traders carrying
large quantities of goods to different parts of the country.
• The security provided by Mauryan rule enabled internal trade to blossom.
• Major trade routes to West Asia and Central Asia passed through north-
west India.
• The main trade routes in northern Indian were along the river Ganges and
the Himalayan foothills.
• Major centres like Rajagriha in Magadha and Kausambi, were connected in
this way.
• Pataliputra, the capital of the Mauryas, had a particularly strategic location
and was connected by river and road in all four directions.

39. • Internal trade was considerably
benefited because river transport
had been improved once the
forests around the Valleys had
been cleared under State
initiative.
• The State's policy particularly
under Bindusara and Asoka to
have peaceful and friendly
relations with the Greeks gave
fillip to foreign trade as well.
Trade

40. Routes
• The northern Sravasti and Kapilavastu was connected through the
city of Vaisali.
• From Kapilavastu this route linked up Kalsi, Hazara and eventually
led up to peshawar.
• Megasthenes also talks of a land route connecting the north-west
with Pataliputra.
• In the south it was connected to Central India and in the South-east
to Kalinga.
• This eastern route turned southwards to finally reach Andhra and
Karnataka.
• The other part of the eastern route continued down to the Ganges
delta to Tamralipti which acted as an exit point for the south and
south-east.
• From Kausambi moving westwards another route led to Ujjain.
This continued either further west to the coast of Gujarat or west
south across the Narmada and was regarded as dakshinapatha
(southern route).
• The overland route to countries of the West went via Taxila near
Islamabad.

41. Communication system
• The regular trading exchanges require good road communication.
• Greek accounts: Agoranomoi officers looked after the maintenance of routes of
communication.
• The Greek author Eratosthenes reports that a road from the Mauryan capital of
Pāṭaliputra went to West Asia through the north-western part.
• Two epigraphic records from Laghman in Afganistan referring to the royal road
(kārapathi), according to B. N. Mukherjee.
• The Arthaśāstra: Different routes through water, land, coast and the Himalayan area.
• Aśoka’s two Rock Edicts from Girnar and Sopara.
• Our attention has been drawn to the recent excavations at Failaka near Kuwait.
• It appears that the Persian Gulf was an important sea route which connected the west
coast of India.
• Mauryas were aware of the overseas trade and commerce.

42. Industries

43. Mining
Production
• Arthaśāstra: Mines and mining productions / industries were under the
state control. It was exercised by the Ākaradhyakṣa.
• Ākaradhyakṣa sent the mining products to the state-owned workshops
for the production of minerals etc.
• These workshops were under the supervision of the officers called
Lohādhyakṣa, Khanyadhyakṣa etc who were subordinate to the
Ākaradhyakṣa.
• Mauryan paid attention to the gold and diamond mines.
• Gold was managed by the prince or Āryaputra at Suvarṇagiri (now in
Karnataka).
• According to Allchin, it is possible to show in the light of
archaeological artefacts that metal extraction was regularly done at this
place in the past.
• Probably the Mauryan period witnessed the mining of gold
at this place which made it well known as Suvarṇagiri.
Arthaśāstra
Mining
Khanyadhyakṣa
Lohādhyakṣa

44. Other Industries
• The state played its role in the production sectors of
weaving and liquor.
• These two sectors were under the supervision of the
Sūtrādhyakṣa and Surādhyakṣa.
• The Sūtrādhyakṣa supervised the production of cotton-
thread in the state farms.
• In this task the female labourers were employed in the
farms.
• Their wages were fixed on the basis of how much yarn
they could produce within the stipulated time.
• Mining activities, ship-building and weapon-making
industries were under the control of the state.
• The private enterprise was however allowed by applying
conditions in the mining sector.
• The weaving and liquor industries were run by the state
personnel in the workshops of the state.
Surādhyakṣa
Sūtrādhyakṣa
Weaving
Liquor Mining

45. Merchants
• The merchants were also organised along guild lines.
• Certain kinds of merchants were connected to particular artisan groups which made
distribution of goods easier.
• They too inhabited identifiable parts of the cities which came to be associated with their
professions.
• State administration under the Mauryas also took up the organisation of trade.
• This administrative control on production and distribution made it more efficient.
• It gradually converted some crafts into some sort of smallscale industries.
• The State did this by directly employing some of the artisans like. armourers, shipbuilders,
builders in stone, etc.
• They were exempt from payment of tax because they rendered compulsory labour service
to the State.
• Other artisans like spinners, weavers, miners etc., who worked for the State were liable to
tax.

46. The Officer Supervising Trade and Commerce
• The responsibility of supervising trade and commerce by Paṇyadhyakṣa (‘Superintendent of
Commodities’)
• This officer was to have the expertise on the different commodities brought to the market.
• In have the information about the places of their production, whether the those commodities were
brought by water or by land, their demand and supply and their ‘price differentials’.
• Thus the policy he took was applicable both within the country and outside.
• He was also entrusted with the responsibility of selling the commodities produced in the state
farms.
• According to the Arthaśāstra the Paṇyadhyakṣa would fix the amount of profit for a trader; 5% for an
indigenous trader and 10% for a non-indigenous merchant.
• Kautilya informs us that the market was in charge of the officer called Saṁsthādhyakṣa.
• officer in charge of collecting tolls etc was designated as the Śulkādhyakṣa.
• Aśoka Maurya maintained connection with Tāmrparṇī or Sri Lanka and the five Greek rulers of
West Asia It was difficult to make this cultural connection really successful without having
commercial exchanges.

47. Coinage
• The coins are symbol of development of trade and commerce during the Mauryan
rule.
• The Kārṣapaṇa coins were used in the kingdom of the Mauryas during the period
from the fourth to the second centuries BCE.
• Cast coins were also used.
• The metal standard, weight and purity of the coins were much regulated.
• The use of the coins was under the control of the Mauryan administration.
• The officer called Rūpadarśaka was in charge of making coins for the state.
• The use of coins facilitated the development of trade and commerce during the rule
of the Mauryas in early India.

48. Silver karshapana
c. 4th-2nd century BCE
Weight: 3.19 gm., Dim: 16 x 17 mm.
Ref: GH 477.
ilver karshapana
c. 4th-2nd century BCE
Weight: 3.43 gm., Dim: 15 x 14 mm.
Ref: GH 506.
ilver karshapana
c. 4th-2nd century BCE
Weight: 3.38 gm., Dim: 13 x 15 mm.
Ref: GH 516.
ilver karshapana
c. 4th-2nd century BCE
Weight: 3.14 gm., Dim: 13 x 13 mm.
Ref: GH 509.
• The Mauryan coins of silver karshapanas
consist roughly 3.4 gm.
• Almost all Mauryan coins have five
punches, as did the Magadhan coins
before them ... a sun, a "6-arm symbol"
and three others.
• Some of the last coins in the series also
had a punch on the reverse of the coin.
• Over time, the flans became smaller and
thicker.
• The economy must have been very
prosperous, as the coins seem to have
been minted in the millions.
• Unfortunately, we do not know what the
punches signify, nor do we know exactly
which coins were issued by which kings.
• Indeed, we are not even sure where the
Magadhan series ends and the Mauryan
series begins.

51. Economy and Urbanisation
• The development of agriculture, industries, trade and commerce under the control of the Mauryan state
continued the process of urbanization during the period.
• It is well known that Pāṭaliputra became a large urban centre with a well organized administrative system.
• The city had an administrative department that looked after the foreigners.
• Kausambi (Kosam near Allahabad) was another urban centre of the Mauryas.
• In this city a royal road was discovered. It is dated to c. 300 BCE.
• Taksasila (present day Taxila) became an important centre of the Mauryan provincial administration in the
north-western region.
• Urbanization took place in the east during the time of the Mauryas.
• This is supported by the epigraphic record from Mahasthan in the Bogra district of northern Bangladesh.
• The inscription refers to the well fortified city of Puḍanagala or Puṇḍranagara.
• The remains include terracotta images of the Mauryan times, semi-precious stone beads, cast coins, Black
Polished Ware materials, iron implements etc.
• Urbanization also reached Odisha and the Deccan.

54. Conclusions
• Mauryan state introduced such an economic system which controlled agriculture,
industries and trade and commerce.
• The control of the state brought about economic development during the Mauryan
period.
• But at the same time the Mauryan state also allowed the entry of private enterprises
to some extent.
• The administrative system the Mauryas provided them with a great scope to collect
wealth.
• The Mauryas successfully collected taxes/revenues.
• Their success in the collection of wealth gave rise to the rich treasury (Kosa) of the
state.
• Economic environment created by the Mauryas continued the process of
Urbanization.