OWNERSHIP OF AGRICULTURAL LAND IN

ANCIENT INDIA

BY

LALLANJI GOPAL
(University of Allahabad)
The various theories on the subject I) may be broadly divided into
three, according to whether they emphasise the claim of the community,
the king or the peasant as the owner of the soil.
V. A. Smith 2) and, following him, J. N. Samaddar 3) express the
view that the soil was the property of the king. Others who support
this theory are B. Breloer 4), Shamasastry 5), Hopkins 6) and Biihler 1).
Maine 8) is the chief propounder of the view that agricultural land was
owned and cultivated by men grouped in village communities. The
theory of individual ownership has been advocated among others by
Baden-Powell 9), K. P. Jayaswal l°) and P. N. Banerjee
Here we do not discuss the communal ownership of land, which is
little referred to in classical Hindu
legal texts. We hope to consider
this at length in a later publication. For the present the claims of

peasant and king are evaluated.

We have some evidence which points to the existence of private

ownership of cultivated land even in the Vedic period12). Firstly, we

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have to the measuring

references of fields 1) and to their being separated

by strips (khilya) 2). Again, we find expressions meaning 'lord of a

field' and 'the winning of a field' (urtarisd, urvaräpati, urvaräjit,
ksetrasa, ksetrapati) 3). The reference by Apala 4) to her father's field
and the hair on his head as personal possessions, coupled with prayers 5)
for fertile fields and for worthy sons and grandsons, indicates private
proprietorship. In the Atharvaveda 6), the Taittirya Samhitä7) and the

Cbandogya Upani¡ad8) the sense of separate and individual fields is

more clear.
The Pali canonical works, reflecting the practice in the Age of the
Buddha, show a developed sense of individual ownership, when
peasant proprietors called khettapati, khettasdmika or vatthu p ati culti-
vated the arable land. There cannot be any doubt that the conception
of ownership in land had developed 9). Boundaries were set up to

distinguish the plots of land possessed by different owners 1°). The

canonical literature") reveals that land was classed with cattle and
other movable and immovable property as the personal property of a
householder. The sale and mortgage etc. of land are also referred
tol2).
Besides the donation of parks by Anathapind.ika, Ambapali and Jivaka,
there are some other instances of gifts of lands 13) . TheCullavaggal4)
describes a law-suit relating to the Jetavana, a significant instance

illustrating individual ownership of land. The stealing of another's

plot is referred to in the Dïghanikäya 15).