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(182 INDIA AS DESCRIBED" IN EARLY TEXTS spades and watered by means of condits. Seeds were sown at the usual time anu crops, when ripe, were cut, threshed on a prepared mould (khalamandala) and then taken to the granary.
Various kinds of crops were grown on the soil. Rice was the chief article of food 1 and grown abundantly. There is mention of different kinds of rice, viz., sāli, vīhi, tanqula, etc. Of the other food crops, the chief were barley (yava) and millet (kangu), grams, beans and sugarcane. Cocoanut trees were cultivated on an extensive scale.
Besides these there were grown spices like pepper (marica), mustard, dry ginger, garlic, oilseeds like castor, fibre crops like cotton. These were the chief agricultural produces. Grass was collected for domestic animals.
Among the domestic animals, cattle were held in high esteem as a source of wealth. Dairy farming was in an advanced state and there was an abundant supply of milk, curd, butter and ghee. Sheep were reared for wool and other necessities.
There were jungles all over the country. Trees were cut for wood and* timber. A number of people liked animal hunting in forests. There was a regular industry of catching birds like
1 Jätaka, i, 340 & Ibid. 1. 339: ucсhulkhettänikorontā .
