2 - South India

Summary

The available contemporary sources are extremely insufficient for a full understanding of the level of development and the special characteristics of agricultural production in the period. It is necessary to use later data of the colonial period, taking into consideration, of course, the fact that the beginning of the nineteenth century was a time of economic decline caused by the political events of the second half of the eighteenth century.

South Indian agricultural production was developing first of all on the basis of utilizing the natural features of the land and by way of adaptation to them. The most important of these were: (1) the tropical climate, allowing in principle, provided there was enough moisture, some kind of agriculture all through the year; (2) more even distribution of rains than in northern India (combination of south-western and south-eastern monsoons), which to an extent made it really possible to vary dates of sowing and harvesting of some crops; (3) large quantity of unoccupied lands, absence of land-starvation, and, on the contrary, a shortage of labour; (4) the great expenditure of labour for bringing into cultivation the new lands.

For instance, the cultivation of virgin black soil in the Deccan demanded first of all the clearing of forests and bushes. Then the parcel of land was ploughed several times in mutually perpendicular directions. The unusually heavy plough drawn by four or five pairs of bullocks was used. Then the roots and rhizomes were taken out of the soil by hand.