AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

During the 13th and 14th centuries, the land-man ration was very favourable.
Although the statistical data pertaining to this period is very limited but the
accounts of the contemporaries of this period suggest that inhabited area in the 13th-
14th centuries was much smaller than at the close of the 16th century, when land in
the tract was almost fully under cultivation.

Large tracts even in such fertile regions as the Ganga-Yamuna Doab were covered
by forests and grasslands. The sufi Nizamuddin Auliya in the 13th century found
wayfarers travelling between Delhi and Badaun harassed by tigers. In the 14th
century, the forest in the region, according to Barani, was thick enough to provide
refuge to vast number of peasants against the Sultan’s armies. Thus, during the Delhi
Sultanate, there was an abundance of cultivable land that was yet to be brought
under the plough.

The control over bits of land was, therefore, not as important as on persons
cultivating them. A favourable ratio of land to man naturally implies agriculture to
extensive. In simple terms, extensive agriculture is that where the increase in
production is attempted by bringing more area under crop. Owing to abundance of
cultivable land in the Delhi Sultanate, agriculture was extensive in nature. The large
area of cultivable waste and fallows naturally provided good pasturage facility for
cattle. The author of the Masalik Il Absar
records that in India cattle were innumerable and their prices were low. Afif reports
that no village in Doab was without a cattle-pen which were called kharaks.
Bullocks were so plentiful that the pack-animals and not the bullock-carts were the
means of carrying grains and other goods.

One of the most remarkable features of the agriculture of the time was the large
number of crops grown by the peasants of the Delhi Sultanate. This has perhaps no
parallel in other parts of the world except perhaps in South China. Ibn Battuta was
struck by the multiplicity of crops grown and described in sufficient detail the
various crops grown in the two cropping seasons. He also suggests that in the region
around Delhi double cropping was also practiced, that is, on the same soil both the
kharif and the rabi crops were raised. While, this may have been the case on a small
portion of the land, the important fact was that the same peasant sowed different
crops for two harvests in the year. Thakkur Pheru, the mint-master at Delhi under
Alauddin Khalji, writing in c. 1290 lists some twenty-five crops grown under two
harvests and gives also their yields. While the yields cannot be comprehended
owing to the uncertainty of the units used, one gets a fairly good idea of the crops
raised. Among food crops, he mentions, wheat, barley, paddy, millets juar, moth etc.
arid pulses (mash, mung lentils, etc,). For cash crops, sugarcane, cotton, oil-seeds,
sesamurn, linseed, etc. are referred to.

One may perhaps legitimately assume that improved facilities of irrigation would
have helped extend the area under rabi (winter) crops suck as Wheat, sugarcane etc.
With the 'Islamic raiders' making of wine from sugarcane became widespread and
a new rural industry emerged, at least around Delhi and in the Doab by the 14th
century as is evident from Barani's account. Thakkur Pheru surprisingly omits the
dye-crop (indigo) though its production is testified to by the fact that indigo was
already an important item of export to Persia. It is recorded that the I1 Khanids tried
to encourage indigo plantation in Persia to avoid dependence upon India for its
supply. The probable use of lime-mortar in the indigo-vats by providing an
improved surface should have helped the manufacture of dye.

Although it is quite difficult to measure the production in terms of modern weights

and measures but it has been estimated that the production of gram and cotton
remained stable till the end of the 19th century and that of Jaur and barley were
much higher under the Sultans of Delhi than during the colonial period. As far as
prices are concerned the crop, which needed artificial irrigation like wheat,
sugarcane, were more highly valued than the crops that could largely do without it.
Thus, the kharif crops, which were grown on mainly on rain and inundation, fetched
very low prices. The hardier rabi crops, barley and gram, also were rated lower in
respect of wheat and sugarcane. The land abundance of this period encouraged a
more extensive system of agriculture, and so ensured a larger production of rain-
grown crops, with a consequential relative restriction of crops needing higher
inputs, especially in the form of artificial irrigation.

The large area of waste land, including fallow, and forest, mean that there was little
shortage of pasturage for cattle. Speaking of the two villages at the place where
Firuz Shah established his city of Hisar, Atif mentions that one of them had 50
cattle pens, and the other 40 and no village was without a cattle-pen during this
period. The large numbe of cattle might explain the fact that why the backs of the
bullocks, and not bullock-carts, were the principal means for transporting grain in
the villages. Moreover, the trade in dairy products such ghi or butter was highly
profitable, thereby, making cattle rearing even more important.
From Ibn Battuta's account, we get information on fruit growing in the Delhi
Sultanate. It appears that technique of 'grafting' was not known by peasants.
Earlier grapes were grown only in the few places besides Delhi but Muhammad
Tughluq's urging to peasants to improve cropping by shifting from wheat to
sugarcane to grapes and dates and Feroz Tughluq's laying down of 1200 orchards
in the vicinity of Delhi to grow seven varieties of grapes seems to have made them
so abundant that, according to Afif, the prices of grapes fell to a rate of five times
that of wheat.

During the 14th century, under MBT and Firuz Tughluq, there was a marked
development of gardens. Firuz Tughluq is said to have built 1200 gardens in the
neighbourhood and suburbs of Delhi, 80 on the Salora embankment, and 44 in
Chitror. These gardens led to the improvement of fruits, especially in grapes. Thus,
we are told that grape-wine used to come to Delhi from Meerut and Aligarh.
Dholpur, Gwalior and Jodhpur were the other places which witnessed a marked
improvement in fruit cultivation and gardening. Special attention was paid to the
improvement of pomogrenates at Jodhpur. In fact, Sikander Lodi had declared that
Persia could not produce pomogrenates which were better than the Jodhpur
variety in flavor. However, fruits produced in these orchards were meant mainly
for the towns, and for the tables of the wealthy. They, may, however, have
produced some employment, and added to the avenues of the trade.

However, the Indian peasants did not practise sericulture (rearing of silk-worm) at
that time and no true silk was produced. Only wild and semi-wild silks,namely, tasar,
eri and mugu were known. Whatever silk was used during the earlier periods of the
Delhi Sultanate was obtained from Khotan or China. It was Ma Huan, the Chinese
navigator in 1432, who makes the first reference to sericulture in Bengal; “Mulberry
trees, wild mulberry tree, silk worms and cocoons, all these they have”.

Agriculture was generally dependent upon natural irrigation, that is, rains and
floods. Since cultivation was largely based on natural irrigation, the tendency was
to grow mostly single, rain-watered kharif (autumn) crop and coarse grains more.

Wells were probably the most major source of artificial irrigation in most areas.
Muhammad Tughluq advanced loans to peasants for digging wells in order to extend
cultivation. Masonry wells as well as brickless wells are described in the
contemporary accounts of this period. In some localities water blocked up by
throwing dams upon streams provided another source of irrigation. Some of these
were built by the local people and some by the government.
Canal irrigation is described in the sources from the 14th century. The inspiration
for the excavation of canals may have come from central Asia. /Ghiyasuddin
Tughluq (1320-25) is reported to be the fist Sultan to dig canals for promoting
agriculture. But it was under Feroz Tughluq (1351-88), that the biggest network of
canals was created in India till the 19th century. Feroz Tughluq cut two canals from
the river Yamuna carrying them to Hissar- Rajab-wah and the Ulugh-khani; one
from the Kali river in the Doab joining the Yamuna near Delhi; one each from the
Sutlej (Firuz-shahi) and the Ghaggar. Canal irrigation helped greatly in the extension
of cultivation in the eastern Punjab. Now there was an emphasis on the cultivation
of cash crops like sugarcane, cotton etc. that required more water than other crops.
Afif says that a long stretch of land of about 80 krohs (200 miles) vast irrigated by
the canal Rajabwah and Ulughkhani. According to Afif, as a result of abundance
water available, peasants in the eastern Punjab raised two harvests (kharif and rabi)
where only one was possible earlier. This led to new agticultural settlements along
the banks of the canals. In the areas irrigated by the canals 52 such colonies sprang
up. Afif comments enthusiastically, "neither one village remained desolate nor one
cubit of land uncultivated."

Besides these larger canals there were a number of smaller canals as well. Some in
the Multan region are said to have been dug and maintained by the local
population. Firuz Tughluq’s dredging the big rivers, recognized to be a charge on
the state treasury, the excavation and maintenance of ‘public canals’ was the
responsibility of the local people and landholders. In respect of another canal, he
charges village headmen and peasants to excavate it upon pain of death and exile.

Broadly, there were five devices or techniques to raise water from wells: i) The
most simple technique was to draw water with rope and bucket by using hands
without any mechanical aid. Obviously, then, the bucket was small in size and,
thus, this operation would not have adequately served to water large fields.
But we cannot deny the use of rope-bucket technique for irrigating small fields for
crops, most probably vegetables that did not require much water. ii) The second
method was the employment of pulleys
(charkhi) combined to the rope-bucket contraption which was, once again,
activated manually.
Undoubtedly, the pulleys needed lesser amount of human energy and, therefore,
comparatively larger bags or buckets could have been attached to the rope. It was
also used for domestic purpose, especially by women.
iii) An improved method of the rope-bucket-pulley contraption was the
employment of a pair of oxen to replace human-power. At this stage, it had become
a specialized device for drawing water intended specifically for irrigation. In some
areas of North India it is still in operation known as charasa.
The latter is a huge bag that gives an idea of the immense quantity of water raised
from the well in
one single haul-up. Moreover, the bullock track was like a ramp or sloping path-
the length of the path corresponding to the depth of the well. The water of the well
(mounted with this device) could not have been used for drinking, cleansing
utensils or for washing cloths. Of all the five methods, charasa was not a multi-
purpose one, it was solely devised for irrigation- a fact which has not been realized
till now.

iv) The fourth technique was what is considered to be semi-mechanical. A long

rope is lashed to the fork of an upright beam or trunk of a tree (especially meant
for this purpose) to put it in a swinging position. The bucket is fastened to a rope
whose other end is tied to the one of-the the swinging pole hovering over the well.
The pole's other end carries a 'counterweight', a little heavier than the bucket
when filled with water. Thus, the fulcrum forms at the centre of the pole, with
weight and 'counterweight' (Effort) at its two ends. This contraption requires only
a little effort on the part of the person operating it. The device is known as shaduf
in Egypt. It is called tula * (balance) in Sanskrit, but in Bihar and Bengal it's known
as dhenkli or lathatha.

v) The fifth water-lifting method is 'Persian Wheel'. None of the four mechanisms
described above required wheels as their basic component. This water-wheel
could well claim to be called a water machine because of the employment of the
pin-drum gearing system, which made it possible for it to be worked with animal
power. Much controversy has cropped up about the origins: did it exist in India
prior to the advent of the Muslims, or was it a foreign importation through the
agency of the Turks? In India, Its earliest form was one wheel with pitchers or pots
of clay attached around the rim of the wheel.
Harvesting was performed with a sickle, and threshing by using oxen who walked
round and round over he ears put on the threshing floor. "Wind power" was
exploited in winnowing in order to separate the chaff from the grain.