12. Polity and Society during the Age of Buddha

Material Life

• The picture of material life in northern India, especially eastern UP and Bihar can be drawn on the basis of the Pali texts and the Sanskrit Sutra literature in combination with archaeological evidence.
• Archaeologically the 6th century B.C. Marks the beginning of the NBP (Northern Black Polished Ware) phase, a very glossy, shinning type of pottery.
• This phase also saw the beginning of metallic money, use of burnt bricks and ringwells appeared in the middle of the NBP phase i.e. In 3rd century B.C.
• The NBP phase marks the beginning of second urbanization in India in the middle Gangetic basin in the 6th century B.C. after the disappearance of Harappan towns in about 1500 B.C. 
• Though houses were made of mud-brick and wood which naturally have perished in the moist climate of middle Gangetic basin but the other remains indicate a great in population when compared with the Painted Grey Ware settlements.
• Many towns were seats of govt. But eventually turned out to be markets and inhabited by merchants and artisans in fixed localities and crafts were hereditary.
• Trade was facilitated by the use of money and though the terms like nishka and satamana are taken to be names of coins in Vedic texts but those found are not earlier than 6th century B.C.
• Coins made of metal appear first in the age of Buddha especially of silver though a few of copper too and are punch marked with marks such as trees, bull, fish etc.
• They were found in eastern UP and Magadha and some early ones are also found in Taxila. The Pali texts indicate plentiful use of money and show that wages and prices were paid in it.
• This period produce texts dealing with sophisticated measurements(Sulvasutras), presupposing writing.
• From the NBP phase in Kausambi iron tools consisting of axes, knives, razors, nails, sickles etc. Have been discovered probably meant for the use of the peasants.
• It seems the nucleated rural settlement in which people settled at one place and had their agricultural lands mostly outside the settlements appeared during the age of Buddha.
• There were 3 kinds of villages such as the typical village inhabited by various castes and communities and headed by village headman called bhojaka.
• The second was the suburban villages, a nature of craft villages and the third consisted of the border villages which merged into forests and people living were mainly fowlers and hunters.
• The peasants had to pay 1/6th of their produce in tax collected directly by royal agents.
• Rice was the staple cereal produced in eastern UP and Bihar in this period and it seems that large scale transplantation began in the age of Buddha.
• In addition the peasants also produced barley, pulses, millets, cotton and sugarcane.
• Iron played a crucial role in opening the rain-fed forested, hard-soil area of the middle ganga basin to clearance, cultivation and settlement.
• The smiths knew how to harden iron-tools with the iron ores obtained form Singhbhum and Mayurbhanj.

 

Administrative System

• Although there were many states but only Magadha and Kosala emerged as powerful, both of them ruled by kshatriya kings who ruled with the help of officials both high and low.
• Higher officials were called mahamatras, and performed various functions such as those of minister, commander, judge etc. There was also a class of officers called ayuktas performing similar functions.
• The rural administration was in the hands of village headman earlier called gramini but as life became sedentary and plough cultivation well-established they were known as gramanhojaka, gramini or gramika.
• The village headman assessed and collected taxes from the villagers and also maintained law and order in their locality.

Army and Taxation

• The real increase in state power is indicated by the formation of a large professional army fed by the state exchequer.
• Warriors and priests i.e. Kshatriyas and brahamanas were exempted from paying any taxes, and the burden fell on peasants who were mainly vaisyas or grihapatis.
• Bali a voluntary payment during Vedic times made by the tribesmen to their chiefs became permanent in the age of Buddha and officers called balisadhakas were appointed to collect it.
• In addition to these taxes the peasants were subjected to forced labour for royal work.
• Artisans and traders also had to pay taxes and customs on the sale of their commodities collected by officers called saulkika and sulkadhyaksha.
• The kings of this period no longer summoned the sabha and samiti of the pre Vedic times as they were tribal institutions which decayed and disintegrated into varnas and lost their identity.
• Instead in this period a small body called parishad consisting exclusively of the brahamanas was there.
• And the assemblies were there but not in bigger states like Magadha and Kosala which were monarchies but in smaller republican states of the Sakyas, Lichchhavis etc.

 

The Republican Experiment

• The republican system of govt. Existed either in the Indus basin or in the foothills of the Himalayas in eastern UP and Bihar and may have been the remnants of the Vedic tribes.
• In some cases in UP and Bihar people were possibly inspired by the old tribal equality which didn't give prominence to the raja.
• In the republic of Sakyas and Lichchavis the ruling class belonged to the same clan and the same varna and consisted of raja, uparaja, senapati and bhandagarika(treasurer).
• In the age of Buddha certain states were not ruled by hereditary kings but by the persons who were responsible to the assemblies.
• The republics differed from monarchies in ways such as
• The king was the sole recipient of the revenue in monarchies but in republics it was every tribal oligarch known as raja.
• In republics every raja maintained its army and competed with the other rajas while in monarchies, no other group was allowed to keep arms within its boundary.
• The republics functioned under the leadership of oligarch assemblies and not of an individual as was the case with the monarchy.
• Naturally ancient thinkers looked upon kingship as the common and the most important form of govt.

 

Social Orders and Legislation

• Formerly people were governed by the tribal law which didn't recognise any class distinction but later the Dharmasutras laid down the duties of each of the 4 varnas and civil and criminal law for each varna.
• All kinds of disabilities were imposed on sudras and were deprived of religious and legal rights and relegated to the lowest position in society.
• In this respect even Jainism and Buddhism did not make any substantial change in the position of the sudras.
• Civil and criminal law was administered by royal agents who inflicted rough and ready punishments such as scourging, beheading, tearing out of tongue etc. i.e. Governed by the idea of revenge.
• Although the brahamanical law-books took into account the social status of different varnas in framing their laws but the non-Vedic tribal groups who were absorbed in the territorial expansion were given fictitious social origins and were allowed to be governed by their own customs.
• In the age of Buddha the varna order was devised and the function of each varna was clearly laid down.